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Re: starship-design: Re: Bugs again




In a message dated 10/15/98 1:54:36 PM, Shealiak@XS4ALL.nl wrote:

>Kelly,
>
>A compilation of two letters:
>
>>>No, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea of staying in
space.
>>
>>One SETI researchers used something like that to prove NO alien EVER set
foot
>>on Earth.  Any such exposure would have released microbes so alien they'ld
>>obviously not be from arund here (as apposed to our local stuff which all is
>>very closely related).  The fact no really alien microbes were found in some
>>odd niche suggested no one made it here.  I wounder why?
>
>Another explanation would be that as I suggested: Contamination won't
>happen unless you are contaminating with large numbers of bacteria.
>And what about those typical totally grey-skin with large black eyed aliens
>that every selfrespecting abductee tells about. Couldn't that grey skin not
>just be a "space"suit? If these aliens breathe oxigen, then they would
>hardly need anything more than a water-tight suit to survive in Earth's
>atmosphere. (So no cumbersome backpacks nor metal parts to avoid the
>spacesuit from becoming a balloon.

Surprized you heard about the 'grays'.  That style of alien sighting is only
common in the U.S. (other areas of the world have different cultural
preferences) europeansd generally report Nordic looking ET's.   ;)

Anyway quock check shows the aliens are B.S.  As to the idea the contamination
won't happen without quatities of microbes, thats not really true.  Microbes
reproduce.  So if one hits a fertile zone, you quickly get quantities.


>
>====================================================================
>
>>>But aren't we more hostile to these bacteria, as they are to us? Afterall,
>>>they are strange to us, and we are strange to them. Except we have a
>>>numerical advantage: our body has many many more cells to attack.
>>>I've asked a similar question before. Who's likely to be attacked most
>>>badly, the small critter in our big alien body, or we?
>>
>>They would have te edge.  As a multi-celular organism that has lots of
>>simbiotic microbes that it needs to leave alone.  Our bodies can't take as
>>agressive a responce as would be nessisary.  The attacking microbes however
>>only need to find something in our bodies that they could feed on.  Far
>>simpler task.
>
>Our body can become very agressive, it will change environmental parameters
>of which the best known is temperature. This will reduce the growth rate of
>the alien cells while our body has a wealth of options to partially
>compensate for this thermal inconveniance.

That only works on bacteria that are sensative to temps.  Some can survive
(even thrive) in swings of hundreds of degrees.  Also our body only runs a
feaver if it senses a infection it knows to react against.

>Furthermore leukocytes (attack cells) will attack and won't make feeding
>for the bacteria or small organisms any easier.
>In fact our body can destroy part of itself in a fight: High fever can
>cause serious damage to organs, the high temperature is generated by the
>body itself in response to the intruder.

Again, only if its something te body knows to attack.  Many things will kill
us without triggering any defensive measure.


>
>Timothy

Kelly