Life on Titan? Unlimber Your Checkbook, Uncle Sam

Forbes alerts us to work by scientists at Cornell, who are excited about the possibility of life in the freezing liquid methane seas and lakes of Saturn's moon Titan. Well, life in a certain sense.

The team theorized that Titan might be able to harbor methane-based, oxygen-free cells. They conceived a cell membrane made up of nitrogen compounds capable of functioning in liquid methane at temperatures hundreds of degrees below zero. Given this much lower freezing point for cells based on meth...