Didn't know whether to post this here or MS, I figured here made more sense. Short or long below, your pick.

SHORT:Anyone ever heard of any organisms that do not need water to survive or have very unconventional energy/nutrition sources, any links or ideas would be of great help.

LONG:Well a few days back I was arguing w/ my science teacher that life does not need water to exist. She said it does. I said, "Well all carbon based life we know of does require water to live."

She then assumed she had won, but I then asked her, "What if there was life that was say... Based upon silica?(silicon? Too many psycho-actives tonight.)"

Anyways she then asked me to giver her an example. I told her that she wasn't looking at the big picture and that for something to be alive doesn't mean it has to have water. She once again told me to giver her an example of life that doesn't need water. I gave up on her at that point.

But I remember vaguely reading or watching something about some new bacteria or organism that was discovered a while back on some remote inhospitable island that didn't require what normal life would require to live... I believe it fed off of something in the rocks themselves, a mineral maybe? I 'unno, like I said I very vaguely remember and I'm having a hard time thinking at the moment. Any help on finding anything like this would be immensely appreciated.

EDIT:Forgot a word!?!

[This message has been edited by Tree Sloth (edited 04-01-2007).]

i would imagine that silica based life would be completely possible. it is very similar to carbon chemically, so i assume whatever is so magical about carbon that allows life can completely be transferred to silica. but of course, no one really knows the secret that changes a pile of minerals and hydrocarbons into life so there is no way to definitively prove one way or the other.

on the subject, your teacher is correct to say all known life needs water. it plays a huge role in almost every reaction in our cells. it would be very difficult to imagine a biological system where water is completely absent.

however, there are some creatures that survive in random places. on the ocean bed, there is a whole ecosystem that lives in complete darkness, getting all of thier energy from the heat from volcanic rocks. it was a big thing about a decade ago as everyone just assumed that photosynthesis was the only way living systems got energy from the enviroment.

i can't think of the name of them, but i assume a search of a few keywords will find it.

I don't know a lot of biology so I can't really help out, but "on the ocean bed, there is a whole ecosystem that lives in complete darkness, getting all of thier energy from the heat from volcanic rocks." They cluster around volcanic vents, not only do they get the heat they need it provides minerals they need to consume to live.

I'm sure lichens require water but typically they are the first species to move into an area devoid of life. They can get the nutrients they need from minerals found in rocks and don't need a lot, if any, dirt to survive.

All life as we know it needs water to fill the cells and act as a medium for transfer of material within the cells.

In theory it is possible for silicon based life. But until we start getting a catalog of exobiology info, we just won't know.

These things are not quite what you had in mind, but they are pretty insane.

WATER BEARS!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardigrade