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Life Without Oxygen

Ancient rocks hold evidence for life before oxygen

Somewhere between Earth's creation and where we are today, scientists have demonstrated that some early life forms existed just fine without any oxygen. The 2.52 billion-year-old sulfur-oxidizing bacteria are exceptionally large, spherical-shaped, smooth-walled microscopic structures much larger than most modern bacteria, but similar to some modern single-celled organisms that live in deepwater sulfur-rich ocean settings today, where even now there are almost no traces of oxygen. Ref. Source 6y.

Oxygen Life

I bet that there is lots of life out there that doesn't need oxygen. Its plentiful on earth so we need it but elsewhere the might be creatures that don't. I bet when they get to Mars there will be more evidence of it.

Life Without Oxygen UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

Actually, we're pretty sure now that Mars had an atmosphere like Earth's not too long ago, most of it got blasted away by solar flares when the planet's magnetosphere ceased providing adequate protection. We've also known for a long while that it has plenty of oxygen (Its currently bound up in various oxides rather than currently being breathable, which is the cause of the distinctive rust color of the planet), so if we do find evidence of life there, I suspect it would have developed using O2/CO2 transfers like ours, or some similar analogue.

For non oxygen based biochemistry, Venus might be our best bet. Though we'd have a hell of a time going to find out. The moon Europa would be another place to check out, there's a decent chance that there is an ocean under all that ice.

Edited: daishain on 9th Dec, 2016 - 2:45pm