Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues scientists

Re:Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues ... by ClumsyPilot on Monday September 28, 2020 @08:13PM (#24622726)

I second this - think about threats from other animal kingdoms, say plants - they get infected by bacteria, viruses or parasites. Yet no-one has ever managed to infect an oak with flu, or to get yellow rust from wheat. Anything actually alien is going to be further removed from me and you, than we are from jellyfish. The bodies will be just too different.

Maybe some kind of invasive organism could exist that spreads like kudzu and plain outcompetes existing life -> however this sounds like something that could be controlled by brute force.

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Re:Water on Mars: discovery of three buried lakes intrigues ... by throwaway189262 on Tuesday September 29, 2020 @02:12AM (#24624618)

This is the same reason humans can eat most fish and nearly all plants raw. The evolutionary distance is so high that infection is basically impossible.

What could still be very dangerous, is otherworldly defence mechanisms like toxins. Plant and fish toxins are commonly deadly to all higher life forms

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