Re: Sinosauropteryx filament melanosomes challenged>>

[Sim Koning <simkoning@msn.com>]

When the sun dies, the oceans will be boiled off the surface of the Earth... If 
there is life on Europa, it might survive for a while, since the tidal forces 
from Jupiter might keep it hot.  
 
 
 
----------------------------------------> Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 16:24:18 +1100> 
From: tijawi@gmail.com> To: dinosaur@usc.edu> Subject: Re: Sinosauropteryx 
filament melanosomes challenged>> 
 
 
Sim Koning wrote:
 
>>> > The only form of life that could possibly have a chance of surviving the 
>>> > death of our sun in 5 billion years would be a technologically> > 
>>> > advanced civilization.>>> 
 
Actually, there are ecosystems on the sea floor that exist entirely 
independently of the Sun. Heat (geothermal) and nutrients (such as sulfur 
compounds and methane) are provided by hydrothermal vents, and chemosynthetic 
(rather than photosynthetic) microbes provide the base of the food chain. These 
ecosystems include not just chemosynthetic microbes, but a diverse array of 
invertebrates (clams, shrimp, and> various types of worms). If the Sun died 
out, these organisms would> presumably go on living. It's even possible that 
life at the hydrothermal systems on the Earth's surface would outlive the death 
of the Sun - including those> at Yellowstone. The humans and buffaloes would 
kick the bucket, but hydrothermal microbes might very well be untouched.
 
>>> Cheers>> Tim