And then there is the report of Rossi and Defkalion. Well, at least they insist that their systems are working and I have my fingers crossed that one day soon we will hear about good confirmation.
In my estimate, there is some evidence that these and others are seeing good excess power. The work on Pd D appears to be sound, so it would not surprise me too much to find that nature has developed a method of extracting this form of energy provided the ignition does not require more than she can muster. I agree that a small advantage could yield a large payoff for the organism that is fortunate enough to unlock LENR. If we pursue this line of reasoning, are you aware of any natural source of energy that can be tapped at a relatively modest temperature not being used by some life form? The mid ocean ridges come to mind as an example of unusual energy support. Hot springs have abundant life within. What about the energy tapped by battery type action? If I recall, there are some bacteria species that eat through metal underwater. Perhaps they use the water Ph as one side of the reaction. I am not aware of any life that uses the release of natural radioactive decay energy to grow, but someone else might have good examples. So, if it is assumed that LENR can be released at temperatures that do not result in the loss of life for all bacteria, then it might be expected to be utilized. I guess you could say I am making a point that life should be able to live just about under any circumstances both on Earth and elsewhere. That initial step from chemical to life is the key. Dave -----Original Message----- From: Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> To: vortex-l <vortex-l@eskimo.com> Sent: Wed, Feb 6, 2013 11:45 am Subject: RE: [Vo]:Chemolithotrophs and Ni-H Dave, Here’s the problem. If you look at thereliable Ni-H experiments going back to Thermacore’s work for DARPA, upto Celani and the replications – the proved COP is rather low - and thereis no evidence that it is really “nuclear,” even if we call itLENR. There are really no other trustworthy experiments to base thingson. In fact a COP of 1.3-1.5is probably all that can be expected - if we base things on all the factsavailable. However, COP =1.5 is ahuge incentive for survival in those conditions. In fact, any COP over onewould be rapidly selected by the evolutionary mechanism, no? From:David Roberson This would be a fine development if it turns out that LENR is usedby these organisms. Some of the parameters required for the use of LENRmight be revealed to help us in our quest. Do you think that the quantity of rocks consumed would give someindication of whether or not LENR were active? I would expect it to takea small quantity if nuclear energy were available for the organism. Dave -----OriginalMessage----- From: Jones Beene If life on earth has ever evolved to use LENR for survival in extreme conditions, then evidence of that would likely be found in deep cold lakes in Antarctica. We talked about this earlier when it looked like the Russians were about to drill deep enough - but they had equipment failure. Now, for the first time, life-forms from deep under the Antarctic ice have been found at a site called Lake Whillans by a US team. Well, they are not sure yet what they have, but they found what looks like single celled organisms. Lots. This variety of extreme life was surviving under a half-mile of ice at temperatures below freezing. Water pressure keeps the water from turning solid. No light gets there. The life-forms apparently survive by "eating rocks" and are called "chemolithotrophs." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithotroph Over thirty years ago, Nickel was shown to be required as a trace element for survival of five strains of the more extreme chemolithotrophs Alcaligenes eutrophus, Xanthobacter autotrophicus, etc. (Archives of Microbiology February 1980, Volume 124, "Nickel requirement for chemolithotrophic growth in hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria" but there are articles about nickel requirements in these organisms going back much further) We will not know for months what strains of chemolithotrophs were found recently, or if they require nickel for survival. Of course, there is no harm in predicting that if nickel is found to be necessary - there is a real good case for some kind of LENR being used as an energy source. And even if iron alone is enough - perhaps LENR can take place with iron as well as nickel under those circumstances. Original story here: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/02/130205-antarctica-ice-life-m oons-science-environment-lakes/
