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Suspended Animation

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Cosmic Biology

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Abstract

The skies are cloudy on seven of the eight planets in our Solar System. They are thick and global on Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn. Uranus has hazy clouds, while those on Mars and Neptune are thin and wispy. Partly cloudy would be a more accurate description for the clouds on Earth, which are never global but can be locally thick and extensive. Because we know that the Earth's atmosphere is filled with airborne life, including microbes that circulate at high altitudes in the clouds above the Earth, we need to consider the possibility that life in the clouds is a reality on other worlds as well.

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Irwin, L.N., Schulze-Makuch, D. (2011). Suspended Animation. In: Cosmic Biology. Springer Praxis Books(). Praxis, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1647-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1647-1_7

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  • Publisher Name: Praxis, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-1646-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-1647-1

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