{"id":19059,"date":"2017-02-24T18:54:18","date_gmt":"2017-02-24T10:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/horror-movie-life-draws-upon-real-life-biology-and-worst-case-space-scenarios\/"},"modified":"2017-02-24T18:54:18","modified_gmt":"2017-02-24T10:54:18","slug":"horror-movie-life-draws-upon-real-life-biology-and-worst-case-space-scenarios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/horror-movie-life-draws-upon-real-life-biology-and-worst-case-space-scenarios\/","title":{"rendered":"Horror movie \u2018Life\u2019 draws upon real-life biology and worst-case space scenarios"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Life"
An astronaut administers a shock to an alien life form in a Petri dish aboard the International Space Station, in a scene from the movie \u201cLife.\u201d Bad idea? (CTMG via YouTube)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A real-life organism provides the inspiration for the alien monster at the center of \u201cLife,\u201d a horror movie that\u2019s set on the International Space Station. But you\u2019d never guess which one.<\/p>\n

Would you believe \u2026 slime mold?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used that as a model, working with the effects team, but ramped it up enormously,\u201d said Adam Rutherford, who served as a science consultant for the film. Moviegoers can get a glimpse at the results in the online trailers for \u201cLife,\u201d which opens in theaters on March 24.<\/p>\n

Rutherford didn\u2019t just throw a dart at the tree of life to select slime mold. It\u2019s a weird kind of fungus-like critter that can be considered a one-celled or multicellular organism. Studies have shown that although it doesn\u2019t have a brain, it seems to be capable of learning and even figuring out railway routes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not a bad model for a fictional organism from Mars that combines neural and muscular functions in one cell. And it\u2019s not a bad pick for Rutherford, a geneticist who also helped out with the AI movie \u201cEx Machina\u201d and wrote a book titled \u201cCreation\u201d about the origin and future of life.<\/p>\n

\"Adam
Adam Rutherford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

No one goes to a space horror flick for a science lecture, but the producers of \u201cLife\u201d took pains to throw in some real-life background about astrobiology, the challenges of studying samples from an alien world, and how to deal with a medical emergency on the space station.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the reasons it works so well is because it\u2019s set in the near future,\u201d Rutherford told GeekWire.<\/p>\n

China is already gearing up to bring samples back from the moon, as early as this year, and NASA\u2019s 2020 Mars rover is expected to lay the groundwork for an eventual Mars sample return mission.<\/p>\n

Scientists are thinking through all the protocols that will be needed to keep Martian samples from getting contaminated by terrestrial life forms, and to keep any potential life forms from getting into earthly environments.<\/p>\n

The most likely scenario calls for sending a sealed sample canister directly back to Earth, for study in a specially built containment facility. In contrast, the movie plot is built around the idea that astronauts will study the sample on the space station, supposedly for safety\u2019s sake. Of course, something goes wrong.<\/p>\n

In real life, the space station\u2019s crew would stick to \u201cvery rigorous protocols to absolutely minimize risk of contamination,\u201d Rutherford said. \u201cBut it wouldn\u2019t be much of a space horror thriller,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n