The meaning of life is the ultimate mystery – why do we exist? And is there a point to… well… anything? These are questions to which we may never find answers, but at least we can define what “life” means in scientific terms. And yet, our understanding of what life is is changing all the time, thanks to space exploration. As scientists continue to hunt for life beyond our own world, biologists are having to rethink the meaning of the word “life” itself. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Generally, biologists explain “life” as connoting a self-sustaining chemical system which is capable of performing functions such as eating, metabolising, excreting, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing, and responding to external stimuli. This definition works pretty well here on Earth (although there are some important exceptions, such as viruses), but experts have pointed out that if life exists elsewhere in the universe, it may not display the same properties that we’re used to. Indeed, it might be unrecognisable as life as we know it (forget those little green men). In which case, how will we spot it if it ever crosses our path? Astrobiologist Sara Imari Walker and chemist Lee Cronin think they’ve come up with a solution. The pair are now arguing that highly complex molecules found in all living creatures can’t exist thanks purely to chance. Therefore, they say, the universe must have a way of creating and reproducing complex information and retaining a “memory” of all of this.. In an interview with New Scientist, Walker, of Arizona State University, explained their radical idea on how objects come into existence. The concept, known as Assembly Theory, explains why certain complex objects have become more abundant than others by considering their histories. If the theory proves correct, it will redefine what we mean by “living” things and show that we’ve been going about the search for extraterrestrial life all wrong. In the process, we could even end up creating alien life in a laboratory, she stressed. In her discussion with New Scientist, Walker pointed out: "An electron can be made anywhere in the universe and has no history. You are also a fundamental object, but with a lot of historical dependency. You might want to cite your age counting back to when you were born, but parts of you are billions of years older. "From this perspective, we should think of ourselves as lineages of propagating information that temporarily finds itself aggregated in an individual." Assembly theory predicts that molecules produced by biological processes must be more complex than those produced by non-biological processes, as Science Alert notes. To test this, Walker and her team analysed a range of organic and inorganic compounds from around the world and outer space, including E. coli bacteria, urine, meteorites and even home-brewed beer. They then smashed up the compounds into smaller pieces and used mass spectrometry to pinpoint their molecular building blocks. They calculated that the smallest number of steps required to reassemble each compound from these building blocks was 15. And whilst some compounds from living systems needed fewer than 15 assembly steps, no inorganic compounds made it above this threshold. "Our system … allows us to search the universe agnostically for evidence of what life does rather than attempting to define what life is," Walker, Cronin, and others wrote in a 2021 Nature Communications article. The handy thing about this building block system – which they’ve dubbed the “'molecular assembly index” – is that it doesn’t rely on carbon-based organic materials to be identified. In other words, an alien could be made of entirely different stuff entirely and we’d still be able to spot it as life using the index. It also works regardless of what stage of “life” an extraterrestrial being is in – whether it is still in its infancy or has moved into a technological stage beyond our understanding. That’s because all of these states produce complex molecules which couldn’t exist in the absence of a living system. If all of this is hurting your head, let’s just get back to the basics: if there is a secret to life, it might all be down to what we do, not what we are. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Russell Brand’s punishment by YouTube has drawn attention to another, alternative video sharing site: Rumble. While Brand has not been banned from YouTube in the wake of recent allegations, the site did say that it would remove the ability to monetise his videos there through advertising. In the wake of that recent announcement, some – including ex-Fox News presenter Dan Bongino, who is both a shareholder in the platform and one of its biggest stars – have suggested that Brand could instead take his videos to that site. He would be just the latest alternative creator, many of whom are conservatives who have run into moderation issues on other more mainstream sites, to focus on the platform. Already, even as he was able to use YouTube as normal, he has gathered a sizeable following on Rumble: Brand has 1.4 million followers, nearly as many as the 2.3 million he has on TikTok. Rumble began in 2013, and for a long time operated quietly as yet another video-sharing site that most of the world hadn’t heard of; Rumble says that its early years were about “empowering [...] small content creators”. It wasn’t until around 2020 that the site became the rising and alternative centre that it has become today. That happened largely because of controversies elsewhere, that pushed video creators and others off more traditional sites, rather than the pull of Rumble. But Rumble has been ready to catch those who have been forced away from the mainstream, with the promise of more relaxed content moderation. In that way it is much like other “alt tech” sites that spring up in response to restrictions on more mainstream platforms. Just as Donald Trump’s Truth Social aimed to offer an alternative to Twitter, for instance, so does Rumble try and challenge YouTube. What is Rumble? In practice, Rumble is much the same as YouTube: it features a search engine to find videos, a window to watch them in, and suggestions of what videos to go next. Its features are not quite as advanced or well-designed as its Google-owned rival, and the video player is more bare-bones, but it is nonetheless largely similar. It is the content moderation that really marks it out from other video platforms. That is markedly different from other sites. Rumble says that it is focused on working “to protect a free and open internet” and “support diverse opinions, authentic expression, and the need for open dialogue”. Its founder, Chris Pavlovski, has said that it is intended to be “immune to cancel culture” and avoid censorship. In reality, that has meant that it has become a home for those who have been banned for violating the moderation rules of other sites. Often, for example, that is because they have violated policies on coronavirus misinformation. Indeed, the pandemic was a particularly fruitful time for the site, apparently as users flocked to watch videos from those banned creators. Rumble says 2020 saw “order of magnitude increases” in its key metrics, and soon after it received investment from conservative venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Who else is on Rumble? Even though the company itself stresses that it aims to be neutral and simply resisting censorship, all of the biggest channels on Rumble are run by those on the right. The site gained particular prominence when it became the home to Andrew Tate, after he was blocked by other platforms, and he now runs a “TateSpeech” channel that has 1.61 million followers. Donald Trump also has a popular channel, and so does his son. But not all of the site’s popular users are on the right, or use it for explicitly political content. The streamer IShowSpeed has a show on the platform, for instance, after he was banned from Twitch, apparently for making sexually inappropriate comments on a stream. The site’s viewers also seem largely to be on the right. About three-quarters of those who use it for news identify as Republicans or lean towards the party, according to the Pew Research Center, in a study published late last year. What are the rules on Rumble? Rumble may be best known for its relaxed content moderation, but it does ban some kinds of behaviour. Today, its content policy is mostly aimed at banning stolen content, as well as video that are pornographic, promote illegal acts, and some other restrictions. Last year, it began a process of working on a new moderation process that aimed to protect users people from harassment. They suggested that the site should ban stalking, for instance, and for attacking other users based on legally protected characteristics. How does Rumble make money? Just like YouTube, Rumble makes money through showing ads before and during videos. And, just like YouTube, it offers a revenue sharing programme that gives some of the money made through those ads back to the creators whose videos they were shown on. Rumble also bought a platform called Locals, in 2021, which allows people to donate to people in return for exclusive content, in a similar way to the more popular Patreon. Russell Brand highlights his Locals account in his Rumble videos. Read More BBC reviews Russell Brand’s time at corporation as YouTube demonetises content How does Russell Brand make money online? Google’s powerful ‘Bard’ AI can now get into your email Google’s powerful ‘Bard’ AI can now get into your email Elon Musk recruiting humans to trial brain implant Starship rocket launch window revealed by FAA

There is much we still don’t know about the inside of our planet – but scientists recently discovered water is slowly leaking down there from the surface. It’s not a simple journey. The liquid is dripping down descending tectonic plates, before eventually reaching the core after a 2,900 kilometre journey. And while the process is slow, it has over billions of years formed a new surface between the molten metal of the outer core and the outer mantle of the Earth. In a new study, scientists at Arizona State University have said the water is triggering a chemical reaction, creating the new layer, which is “few hundred kilometres thick”. (That’s “thin” when it comes to the inner layers of the Earth.) “For years, it has been believed that material exchange between Earth's core and mantle is small. Yet, our recent high-pressure experiments reveal a different story. “We found that when water reaches the core-mantle boundary, it reacts with silicon in the core, forming silica," co-author Dr Dan Shim wrote. “This discovery, along with our previous observation of diamonds forming from water reacting with carbon in iron liquid under extreme pressure, points to a far more dynamic core-mantle interaction, suggesting substantial material exchange.” So what does it mean for all of us up on the surface? The ASU release said: “This finding advances our understanding of Earth's internal processes, suggesting a more extensive global water cycle than previously recognised. “The altered ‘film’ of the core has profound implications for the geochemical cycles that connect the surface-water cycle with the deep metallic core.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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