This fantastic world. Issue 4 (1981) She deliberately chose issue 4, with the staging of the story by K. Bulychev “Snow Maiden”. Its plot win-wins through time, and taking into account new data from space chemistry - only strengthens its relevance.
The story of the living senses trapped in the organic chemistry of long-chain biopolymer molecules. Biochemical stability of the body and human senses. All or nothing, from the perspective of cell biology. We don’t know which planet the Snow Maiden is talking about, but it can happen within the solar system. That makes it even sadder.
When referring to the story "Snow Maiden", my human heart in my terrestrial organism, functioning like all living systems on planet Earth, based on hydrocarbon derivatives, the heart continues to tap, but something happens with the free-energy barriers, where the next macromolecules of protein are folded from one-dimensional amino acid chains into three-dimensional shape.
It's cold. I'm cold. Because the genesis of this story is such that even Romeo and Juliet were more likely to be together.
In Bulychev’s story “Snow Maiden”, an alien ship from the destroyed, flying on the rocks was saved. She's Alive. And she looks pretty. But after collecting air samples from her suit, the doctor announces that the basic basis of her life is not water, but ammonia. While everyone thought, the doctor reminds that ammonia boils at T-33 ° C, and freezes at -78 ° C. And everyone looked at her as a phantom (Bulichev writes so), which, having removed the helmet, immediately became a cloud. The doctor as if by the way noted that "at low temperatures, ammonia proteins will be too stable."
Then for “our” Russian-speaking earthlings, apparently, a coffee break, as after a section of a scientific symposium, and the Snow Maiden was placed in a compartment where the doctor created the conditions for her nitrogen-hydrogen life on the basis of ammonia mixtures.
Let me talk about this story as a person with a higher academic education, just in the field of natural sciences. I will tell you simply, multiplying the experience of the audience from such a simple production.
Now science is developing the topic of alternatives to non-carbon life. Nitrogen, which is discussed in the Snow Maiden, is the seventh most common element of the Universe. It is very much in the composition of giant planets. For example, the mantle of Uranus is a hot mixture of methane, water and ammonia.
It is proved that in such a mixture, at depths, at pressures over 36 Gpa (1 Gigapascal is about 9,869 atmospheres, and we are talking about pressures above 360,000 atmospheres!) during the decay of ammonia, "exotic", molecularly complex nitrogenous hydrocarbons are formed, which in their diversity - surpass the hydrocarbon chemistry of compounds in terrestrial conditions! If we add to this model elements-organogens: carbon and sulfur, then theoretically we can assume nitrogen analogues of organic proteins based on carbon!
The doctor spoke of "too stable ammonia proteins at low temperatures." And the doctor, every day, dealt with the "insoluble problems" associated with the vitality of the Snow Maiden. What did his phrase about the excessive stability of ammonia proteins, about the vital activity of her body mean?
Proteins provide a living organism with various functions: movement, signaling, energy storage, etc.
The protein becomes functionally active only by acquiring a spatial native state, which corresponds to a minimum of free energy.
The transition of protein to a state of minimum free energy occurs in a very short period of time, fractions of a second. The minimum of free energy is determined by the liquid model of the protein-solvent interaction. So this hydrophobic interaction is the measure of protein stability. On Earth, the macromolecular solvent is water, and in the nitrogen version, ammonia. Accordingly, a low-temperature violation of such a liquid model will already require Time to overcome the energy barrier separating the unfolded from the native protein state, which is mandatory for protein Life.
This is the phase principle of the cellular theory of all or nothing.
. . . The Expedition’s staff wondered if the Snow Maiden could live on another planet. And her earthly lover thought, too. And everyone knew it was impossible.
The film was missing one important phrase of the author: I first loved you and then I found out I could never be with you.