So I've tried to start one of these a few times before, but they all ended up silly.
This thread will be the catchall topic for asking science and nature based questions that we are puzzled by. It's often better to get answers from colleagues and friends than from vague internet search results, because they are more precise and helpful.

As an example and a first order of business. Rasec and I were talking about Troll Hunter earlier today and it got us thinking.
Could a carbon based life form 'switch' to a silica based life form or incorporate silicon into it's genetic makeup? Would it just take a long, long time to happen on an evolutionary scale? is it impossible? could it in theory happen with other organisms of alternate elemental makeup?

I think it might be possible, but fairly unlikely. And if it did happen, I'd imagine it would take a fucking long time to make a full transition, longer than anythings been alive on this planet.

But I don't think it's unheard of. We've got those microbes with bits of Cyanide in their genome, afterall.

Chitons have teeth and eyes made of minerals, so it's probably not too much of a stretch.

Given that life chemistry relies on carbon compounds, how would a switch to silicon occur? You're talking changes to DNA backbones, proteins, all kinds of different compounds and that's assuming that these things can function with silicon instead of carbon. Silicon is in the same group as carbon but is non reactive and generally forms lattices rather than chains.

What is this referring to? What do you mean by cyanide in their genome?

I'd like some sources for this statement. Silica incorporation into what? Diatoms have body walls made of silica, but they're still 'carbon based'.

But that's completely irrelevant to the question asked in the first post, which was about carbon based life somehow becoming silicon based.

Like, literally in their genome. Their DNA has cyanide in it.

Can I see a source? I'm not doubting you, I'm genuinely curious since I don't think i've heard of that before.

Wait, no, It was arsenic, not cyanide

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/20...-science-space/

I get poison shit mixed up.

I know these, they exchange the phosfor in their metabolism with arsenic, aparently they can live with either of them by just changing their metabolism, it's implications are interesting

Oh it was that arsenic thing from a while back. While cool if true, the research is pretty questionable and other people haven't been able to replicate it. Studies that have tried to replicate it have found no evidence that the bacteria can utilise arsenic. See here and here. It's also worth noting that even if these bacteria can utilise arsenic(which there doesn't seem to be much evidence for), they were supposedly using it as a substituite for phosphorus in the backbone of the DNA, not as a replacement for carbon. So it's not really that relevant to 'can we have a silicon based lifeform'.

The invasion begins!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/giant-vor...-florida,32096/

http://news.discovery.com/human/alien-look...m#mkcpgn=fbsci1

What I assumed to be a forgery or a mummified fetus, turned out to be something much stranger...

I glanced at this topic and, for whatever reason, misread it as "The General Science Dinosaurs Topic" and thought it was some weird rename of the dinosaur thread.

It's more than just regular dinosaurs, it's General Science Dinosaurs!

It separates them from the Creationist "Science" Dinosaurs, the Alien Theories Dinosaurs and the Paranormal Dinosaurs

This thing just boggles my mind...
One of the strangest, coolest, weirdest mysteries we've ever unearthed - without a doubt.

Neat article - the fungi parasites would make for good horror movies...

I've written two creepypastas concerning fungi like that