The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events
Abstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with plan...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2017-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05796-x |
| _version_ | 1818751391386042368 |
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| author | David Sloan Rafael Alves Batista Abraham Loeb |
| author_facet | David Sloan Rafael Alves Batista Abraham Loeb |
| author_sort | David Sloan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with planet radii in the range 0.5–1.5R ⊕ and temperatures of ∼300 K, eradicating all forms of life. We consider the relative likelihood of complete global sterilisation events from three astrophysical sources – supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, large asteroid impacts, and passing-by stars. To assess such probabilities we consider what cataclysmic event could lead to the annihilation of not just human life, but also extremophiles, through the boiling of all water in Earth’s oceans. Surprisingly we find that although human life is somewhat fragile to nearby events, the resilience of Ecdysozoa such as Milnesium tardigradum renders global sterilisation an unlikely event. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:34:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-18T04:34:49Z |
| publishDate | 2017-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-01a6c80fe5b7410288128c16e72f7c1b2022-12-21T21:20:53ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222017-07-01711510.1038/s41598-017-05796-xThe Resilience of Life to Astrophysical EventsDavid Sloan0Rafael Alves Batista1Abraham Loeb2Department of Physics - Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson BuildingDepartment of Physics - Astrophysics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson BuildingAstronomy Department, Harvard UniversityAbstract Much attention has been given in the literature to the effects of astrophysical events on human and land-based life. However, little has been discussed on the resilience of life itself. Here we instead explore the statistics of events that completely sterilise an Earth-like planet with planet radii in the range 0.5–1.5R ⊕ and temperatures of ∼300 K, eradicating all forms of life. We consider the relative likelihood of complete global sterilisation events from three astrophysical sources – supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, large asteroid impacts, and passing-by stars. To assess such probabilities we consider what cataclysmic event could lead to the annihilation of not just human life, but also extremophiles, through the boiling of all water in Earth’s oceans. Surprisingly we find that although human life is somewhat fragile to nearby events, the resilience of Ecdysozoa such as Milnesium tardigradum renders global sterilisation an unlikely event.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05796-x |
| spellingShingle | David Sloan Rafael Alves Batista Abraham Loeb The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events Scientific Reports |
| title | The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events |
| title_full | The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events |
| title_fullStr | The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events |
| title_short | The Resilience of Life to Astrophysical Events |
| title_sort | resilience of life to astrophysical events |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-05796-x |
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