It’s a question that has grabbed the attention of humanity since long before history has been recorded. What life exists outside of this little ball that we call Earth? Whether we’re talking about the gods of Olympus or the Klingons of Star Trek, it is a theme that has appeared consistently throughout all of human history.

As science expands our knowledge of the universe every year, we half expect the news that extraterrestrial life has been found. But what if we’ve been looking in all the wrong places?

Science predicts many examples of counterintuitive forms of life. While impossible on Earth, they could very well exist elsewhere in the universe. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 scientifically possible extraterrestrial life-forms.

10 Silicon-Based Life

Silicon is a molecule whose structure and chemical properties are remarkably similar to the properties of carbon—the element on which most life on Earth is based. An important part of life as we know it is the ability of carbon to form complex chains of atoms and molecules sufficiently large to contain biological programming such as DNA.

Silicon, also commonly used in computer chips, is the closest that humanity has ever come to designing their own intelligent system. It would have the potential to organically form its own version of DNA under the right circumstances.

Additionally, there are examples on Earth of organisms using silicon in biological structures, specifically in a form of algae known as diatoms. They are responsible for the usage of over six billion metric tons of silicon each year in Earth’s oceans as well as the production of almost 20 percent of the planet’s oxygen.^[1]

As a result, it is likely that silicon might exist as a stage of early life on other planets, converting their atmospheres into oxygen and getting them ready for more advanced life later on.

9 Arsenic-Based Life

Although it seems counterintuitive that one of the most iconic poisons on Earth has a basis in forming life, science suggests that it is entirely possible for arsenic to be incorporated into complex biomolecules.

The argument for arsenic in life-forms stems from its chemical similarity to phosphorus, a staple part of DNA in Earth life. Some studies suggest that arsenic may have once been a part of the DNA in early life on Earth, taking the place in DNA that phosphorus does now.

In an early stage of life before microbial activity was able to leech phosphorus from rocks in the ocean, arsenic would have been far more available to organisms living near hydrothermal vents deep in the ocean.^[2]

Although evidence suggests that phosphorus is a more efficient chemical than arsenic in advanced life, the poisonous element would likely be good enough for early, simple forms of life. Creatures made of this substance may lurk in the depths of alien oceans.

8 Ammonia-Based Life

Water is an essential part of all Earth life. Our bodies use the liquid as a solvent, which is necessary for almost all chemical reactions that create energy and sustain functions. This is seen in humans and all the way down to the smallest microbes.

But what if there was an alternative to water? Recent science suggests that there is.

For life to exist in a substance other than water, it would be necessary for it to either have a large temperature range at which it is liquid or exist on a planet with little, if any, temperature change over the course of its year. Water exists in a liquid form between 0 degrees Celsius (32 °F) and 100 degrees Celsius (212 °F), a range of 100 degrees Celsius (180 °F).

Ammonia is liquid between -77.7 degrees Celsius (-107.86 °F) and -33.3 degrees Celsius (-27.94 °F), a relatively large range of 44.4 degrees Celsius (79.92 °F). While one might think that such temperatures would be too cold to sustain life, it is likely that the reactions and processes necessary for life could still exist, albeit at a slower speed.^[3]

As such, organisms using ammonia rather than water as a chemical solvent would likely live longer but metabolize and evolve more slowly than water-based life.

7 Methane-Based Life

There are some environments in which methane would be far more prevalent than water. Saturn’s moon Titan is a prominent example.

According to a computer model, life which relies on methane would be able to exist in extremely cold areas as well as regions entirely without oxygen. The model revealed that a cell wall could be constructed that would work in liquid methane at -180 degrees Celsius (-292 °F).

Along with the fact that cell membranes could be created with nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen molecules, which are known to exist in Titan’s oceans, this function means that simple organisms could exist in the frozen depths of methane oceans.^[4]

As with ammonia-based organisms, life in methane oceans would inherently be paced much slower than life on Earth. Slow evolution and metabolism would occur due to the frigid temperatures necessary to maintain the ocean of liquids.

6 Carbon-Based Life

Carbon-based life-forms are the only type which we, being carbon-based ourselves, know anything about. Thus, we’re sure that hundreds of planets exist within the potentially habitable zones of their stars. These planets would be able to support life as we know it with oxygen, liquid water, and even the chemicals and reactions necessary to jump-start life.

Additionally, carbon-based life is the only type that we are sure exists, as evidenced by our own planet.

This isn’t to say that carbon-based life on other planets would look at all like Earth’s. Through evolution, it is possible for extraterrestrial carbon-based life to take on a dramatically different form by adapting to fit its environment.

Just look at the massive number of life-forms that exist on Earth. They live everywhere from frigid oceans to the mouths of active volcanoes and fault lines. The existence of organisms on Earth in such extreme environments is proof that it is entirely possible for this kind of life to exist on a wide variety of other planets, including some that we would consider uninhabitable for humans.^[5]

5 Hybrid Life

If creatures could hypothetically evolve using an entirely different basis for life than that on Earth, why couldn’t they combine multiple methods? For example, life could be based primarily in silicon, contain elements of carbon or arsenic, and use ammonia as a solvent.

As previously mentioned, some life-forms on Earth incorporate silicon structures into their cells. So why not take it a step further? If an organism evolved on a planet with a relative abundance of multiple elements that could be used in the processes of life, why not take those two and make them into a composite whole?

Silicon and carbon can bond with each other as well as silicon and oxygen, carbon and oxygen, and silicon and fluoride. So it is possible for these molecules to react and form complex chains that would store and transmit information in a manner similar to DNA.

This could also work if a planet had a biosphere with a subset of creatures which used an element such as carbon as their base and another subset which used a different element such as silicon. Rather than a creature being based in two different elements, the biosphere as a whole could contain two different elemental bases for life.^[6]

4 Plasma-Based Life

This one truly falls into the realm of science fiction.

By modeling conditions that are possible in space, a 2007 study found that plasma and dust can function in a way that may qualify as life. They may even form microscopic double helix strands of solid particles through the polarization of plasma and dust. Sound familiar?

Even more fascinating, the study found that these strands can undergo changes such as those associated with organic molecules, specifically DNA. They can divide, copy, and even evolve as less stable strands break apart and more stable ones endure.^[7]

These life-forms could exist as chilling entities formed of nonorganic materials in the void between stars inside massive dust clouds or in plasma or dust rings surrounding stars. Through continued evolution, it is entirely possible for such clouds to one day achieve sentience.

3 Celestial Life

Although science does not currently suggest that stars or galaxies themselves could form life, it does indicate that life with organic compounds can form outside of a home planet with the help of nearby stars and star structures.

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, organic compounds have been detected in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. Complex organic molecules such as methanol, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate, all of which are essential in organic life, were detected in two nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

This suggests that given time and the right circumstances, these compounds could eventually form into self-replicating molecules that would become the basis of life in such nebulae. Later, they could create more complex biological structures. As they would evolve without the basic function of gravity such as on Earth, we have no idea what these creatures might look like.^[8]

2 Panspermia

A popular theory is that life propagates through the universe through planetary ejection caused by large impacts on previously populated planets. This theory states that life can be distributed by dust, debris, asteroids, and comets carrying microorganisms from other planets.

For panspermia to be plausible, the organisms must be able to survive intense forces and extremely hot and cold temperatures for extended durations. This is due to the inherent forces involved in an asteroid impact, the heat from friction with a planet’s atmosphere, and the extended time when the organism is in transit through space—potentially thousands or millions of years.^[9]

Organisms like that exist on Earth already. These extremophiles can resist extreme cold and heat as well as UV rays and intense forces. Although they are among the most basic known forms of life, they have an unparalleled ability to survive conditions that would kill most other organisms.

Thus, it is entirely plausible that life could have spread throughout the universe via asteroid impacts and the extremophiles that were carried on these alien asteroids.

Even if life was based on the extremophiles from another planet, the simplistic nature of these organisms makes it unlikely that they would evolve into anything that looked like the more complex creatures on the original planet. This is due to the different traits necessary to survive on the two planets.

1 Not At All

Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that we are the only planet in the universe that has life. Due to the vastness of space and the limit that light speed imposes on intergalactic travel, it may be impossible for us to ever discover other life or even determine if it exists at all. In the observable universe, we have not found any concrete evidence that life does or has ever existed on other planets.

With that being said, the universe is only about 13.8 billion years old. While this may seem like a long time, we have no way of knowing how old the universe will become. Perhaps we are the first planet to evolve life, with many others to follow in the future.

We estimate that the universe’s heat death (a state in which there is no longer any free thermal energy) will occur somewhere in between 1 and 100 trillion years. In the worst-case scenario, we are only 1.38 percent of the way through the universe’s expected life span. At best, we are about 0.01 percent of the way there. That is a lot of time for life to happen.^[10]

Still, we can’t help but wonder if our signals will ever be received by someone or something out there or if they will just shoot forever through the cold, dark void of space.

The machine of progress can’t be stopped, but it does need to be tempered. You can’t go about innovating all willy nilly without testing your ideas. Whether it’s something as simple as a new recipe for brownies or as complex as quantum computing, we live in a world where everything needs to be (or at least should be) tested to perfect it. 

When it comes to that brownie, testing it isn’t a hard process to figure out. Have a bite and see how it tastes. But there are some more unusual tests we’ve devised for very specific reasons and, weird though they me, they do stand up to scientific scrutiny.

10. Butt Shaped Robots Test Cell Phone Durability

About 67% of the people on Earth have cell phones, or somewhere north of 6 billion. Of those many billions of people, how many do you think stuff their phone in their back pocket when not using it? In one small poll of just under 3,000 people, about 7.8% kept their phone back there. Out of 6 billion, that would be 468 million. That’s a lot of phones against butts. And that’s why cell phone testing involves robot butts.

Part of the testing Samsung puts its new phones through to ensure durability involves being slipped into the back pocket of jeans worn by robot butts so the robots can sit down again and again and again to see how well the phones handle it. 

That means, theoretically, you shouldn’t have to worry too much if you sit on your Samsung phone because a robot tried it out once already and survived. Unless you sit more aggressively than a robot. 

9. Boeing Tests Wi-Fi on Planes with Potatoes

Pre-Covid there were close to 40 million flights per year around the world. The pandemic brought those numbers down considerably but they are creeping up again and, in any event, it’s safe to say there are a ton of planes in the air on any given day. With so many planes, and people, in the sky, you have to have faith that every aspect of a flight is very rigidly and scientifically tested to ensure maximum safety. And that brings us to potatoes.

Boeing used potatoes as part of the system it devised to test Wi-Fi on its airplanes. About 20,000 lb of them, in fact. The company needed to make sure that a plane, flying at hundreds of miles an hour, 35,000 feet in the air could distribute Wi-Fi evenly among passengers. And yeah, you could get real humans for this job but they need to be paid and to have breaks and all kinds of things. Potatoes, however, do not.

It turns out that potatoes interact with signals, such as Wi-Fi, in much the same way as a human body would. So plopping a sack of spuds in a seat is an easy way to see if the signal strength is dispersed evenly on a loaded plane. 

8. Some Cities Test Their Water Supplies with Clams

Access to clean water is something a lot of people take for granted in parts of the developed world and when the infrastructure that provides it fails, it can be devastating. What many people don’t ever stop to look into is how that water is cleaned in the first place. There’s more than one method available and some places have opted for the unexpected method of using clams.

In parts of Poland, clams provide a reliable early warning system that something is wrong with the water. Clams are extremely sensitive to toxins and pollutants in the water. So clams are placed at a certain place in the water supply and monitored with tiny magnets and coils. If the water flow becomes polluted, say there’s an overabundance of heavy metals in it, the clams immediately close up to protect themselves. The coils and magnets create an observable change in the magnetic field to let scientists monitoring the water know something has happened. 

In America, the same system is being used in cities like Minneapolis. There, mussels have been added to the water supply and the same theory works. When pollutants are detected, the molluscs set off the early warning. They’re so good at this, polluted water can be detected before it ever reaches household water supplies. 

7. A Caloric Stimulation Test Can Help Detect Brain Damage

Brain damage can manifest in numerous ways and can range from the smallest tics to completely life changing alterations in personality or physical abilities. It can also be caused by anything from physical trauma to oxygen deprivation to parasites and more. So how do you even begin to test for something so complicated?

One common method is called the caloric stimulation test. The test is used to measure nerve function and although brain damage isn’t the only thing it can indicate, it’s definitely a test that can help make that diagnosis.

The way it works is remarkably non-invasive. A patient will have electrodes attached to their head near their eyes. Then cold water dripped into their ear. This is then followed by warm water. Eye movement needs to be monitored as the test is implemented. When cold water fills your ear, nerve signals will make your eyes move quickly side to side and away from the cold ear. The warm water will cause the eyes to move back. If your nerves are working properly, this is entirely unconscious movement.

If the results are abnormal, meaning eye movement isn’t what’s expected, further testing can be done to narrow down the cause. 

6. Mice Are Forced to Swim to Test Antidepressants

Over 70 million antidepressants are prescribed every year, so it’s safe to say a lot of people are taking medications that are altering how their brains function. We’ve all likely heard of serious and negative drug side effects so it’s good to know how companies actually test these drugs to ensure they do what they’re supposed to do. 

Before human trials begin with most drugs, animals are tested and antidepressants are no different. But how do you test for depression or the lack thereof in animals? With the forced swim test. Sometimes known as the behavioral despair test.

In this test, a mouse is placed in a container full of water from which they can’t escape. All they can do is swim. The mice are then observed to see how long they will spend trying to swim until they give up. Mice are given antidepressants and the time they spend immobile is measured. So, in a nutshell, an antidepressant is considered effective if it lessens the amount of time a mouse spends immobile. So the longer it can convince a mouse to try to save itself from drowning, the more effective it is. 

5. Horseshoe Crab Blood is Used to Test for Bacteria in Vaccines 

There’s a good chance that if you have been vaccinated against anything in the modern world, you owe a small debt of gratitude to the noble horseshoe crab that probably died as a result. These extremely ancient creatures have some unique blood. Not only is it bright blue, it’s invaluable in medical testing. Well, not literally invaluable. It costs about $60,000 a gallon.

These creatures have remained relatively unchanged for about 450 million years. And the reason their blood is so valuable is that it coagulates when exposed to certain toxins. That clotting feature is incredibly important in medical testing, like for vaccines, because it allows scientists to know if a sample has been contaminated. If the compound coagulates, then they know something went wrong. If it doesn’t, then the sample is pure so they can trust their results. This is integral for ensuring a valid vaccine or other medical treatment. 

Unfortunately for the crabs, this means they need to be harvested and bled en masse. The goal is to only take some blood, about 30%, and leave the crabs with enough to survive, but often they will die as a result of the procedure, anyway. 

4. The US Air Force Tested Ejector Seats on Live Bears

Any good action movie about Air Force pilots probably includes a scene with an adrenaline-pumping high speed emergency ejection. Ever wondered how they make sure those seats work? Back in the day they tested them with bears.

In 1950, when testing ejector seats in a jet that could go twice the speed of sound, the Air Force decided a drugged up bear was the best test subject. They used American and Himalayan black bears and all of the subjects survived the initial testing only to be dissected later.

Bears were actually a second choice for these tests. The first idea was hiring subjects out of unemployment lines. The animals became a better choice probably for a number of reasons but not the least of which was that they could immediately kill and autopsy them to look for internal injuries. Although it seems like the testing worked, they thankfully stopped the practice not long after.

3. Jets are Tested with a Chicken Cannon 

Let’s say you’re on an airplane going across the country. The plane is climbing to altitude and runs into a flock of geese. How scared are you about what happens next? Because birds have downed planes before and people have died. So what does the aviation industry do to try to prepare for this?

Turns out the best way to test how a plane handles hitting birds is to hit it with birds. Jets are tested with cannons that fire chickens at them to see if the windshields and engines can handle the impact. Contrary to some rumors the chickens aren’t frozen, but it’s otherwise a true story. A chicken will be fired into a turbine at 180 miles per hour. For military aircraft it can get up to 400 miles per hour. 

The first chicken cannon saw use back in 1968 and lasted until 2009 when it was replaced. It uses simple compressed air to fire an already killed chicken to test the planes.

2. An AI System is Being Designed to Diagnose Diseases Based on Toilet Sounds

In 2018, about 9.5 million people died from cancer. Year over year it claims more and more victims and while there are great strides in treatments and research, it’s obviously still taking a huge toll. Any technology that can assist in fighting, preventing or diagnosing can save lives. And now there’s a new advance in the fight that utilizes AI and the sounds you make on the toilet to hopefully catch early signs.

The technology is mostly theoretical at the moment with only a prototype having been developed, but the idea is it could listen to your various sounds and detect subtle variations or discrepancies that may indicate your insides are not working exactly as they are supposed to. The AI is sophisticated enough to pull out sounds that a human ear could never detect.

So what do you call a computer that listens to farts and other toilet noises for the betterment of mankind? Synthetic Human Acoustic Reproduction Testing. Or SHART. In 2022 they were working on an algorithm to help SHART detect cholera. 

1. Google Nexus Tested If Sound Can Be Heard in Space

The movie Alien used the tagline “in space no one can hear you scream” and it really set a great tone for the film while also being scientifically accurate. Sound does not travel well in a vacuum. But hey, that doesn’t mean Google wasn’t willing to scientifically test the idea, anyway. 

The Strand-1 satellite was launched in 2013, operated by a Google Nexus smartphone and a CubeSat computer. The operators decided to test that Alien theory by launching a Nexus phone into space with it to test its durability and also how well some recorded screams play in the void. 

Mostly this was just a silly PR stunt because launching satellites is generally mundane stuff these days but, for what it’s worth, the screams were unheard because the physics of space don’t allow sound to travel thanks to a lack of molecules to carry it.

With its roots in ancient traditions, meditation has become a widespread tool for managing stress, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. But popular opinion is still pretty torn between whether this is snake oil or the real deal. So what does the science say about the effectiveness of meditation?

Psychological research has demonstrated several scientifically proven benefits to daily meditation. From reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety to improving focus and cognitive function, the evidence suggests that it can be a powerful tool for improving mental health and overall well-being.

Let’s explore ten key benefits of meditation and how this ancient practice can help us live happier, healthier lives.

Related: 10 Ridiculous Health Myths (Science Says Are Actually True)

10 Reduce Stress

When you experience stress, your body produces a hormone called cortisol. This hormone can harm your physical and mental health, but meditation has been shown to lower cortisol levels. By taking just a few minutes each day to meditate, you can reduce the amount of cortisol in your body and feel more relaxed.

Even meditation beginners can reduce their cortisol levels; the more you practice meditation techniques, the faster your stress will disappear.

When stressed, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, which can cause your heart rate to increase and your muscles to tense up. Meditation can counteract these effects and help you feel more relaxed. This is part of your nervous system responsible for the “rest and digest” response.

9 Improve Your Focus

Since meditation is a practice centered around training your mind to be present, you can work to minimize distractions and amplify your ability to concentrate. Deep breathing, visualization, or mindfulness techniques are standard practices, but there are a lot of meditation styles you can customize to fit what feels good for you.

The beauty of meditation is that it has benefits no matter how your brain works. Consistent meditation can alter the brain’s structure, leading to heightened attention and focus. Even individuals with ADHD see improvements; there’s a reason why many experts suggest this practice to mitigate symptoms.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison study found that participants who completed an eight-week meditation program exhibited increased activity in the prefrontal cortex, the brain region associated with attention and decision-making.

But you don’t have to be a monk or a yogi to reap the benefits of meditation. Even just a few minutes of daily practice can improve your focus and concentration.

8 Reduce Anxiety

Anxiety afflicts millions worldwide, functioning like an unyielding monster that fills your mind with negative thoughts, leaving you overwhelmed, stressed, and fearful.

A potential saving grace? Meditation.

Meditation has the power to significantly reduce anxiety. Studies show that regular meditation can help alleviate anxiety by decreasing activity in the amygdala, the brain’s fear and stress-processing center. Moreover, meditation can boost activity in the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for emotion regulation, decision-making, and attention. This heightened activity empowers you to manage your emotions better and lowers the chance that anxious thoughts and feelings will hijack your mind.

A study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology found that mindfulness-based stress reduction, a form of meditation, can help alleviate anxiety symptoms. If this resonates with you, find a quiet space, sit down, and take a few deep breaths. Through consistent practice, you’ll experience reduced anxiety and gain mastery over your thoughts.

7 Achieve Better Sleep

Forget your sleep number—if you long to consistently drift into a peaceful slumber and wake up feeling revitalized, meditation might be the key. It helps dissolve stress and anxiety, two major factors often depriving us of a good night’s rest.

By centering your mind on the present and releasing worrisome thoughts, you can train your brain to enter a state of deep relaxation, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.

Regular meditation elevates the quality of your sleep and prolongs the time spent in the deep, restorative sleep stages crucial for your physical and mental health. Meditation’s capacity to improve sleep quality is supported by a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. So, if you grapple with insomnia, incorporating just a few minutes of meditation into your daily routine can make a significant difference.

6 Manage or Reduce Your Depression

When you fight chronic depression, you know that every little step helps. Meditation positively impacts depression symptoms, such as low mood, lack of motivation, and feelings of hopelessness.

Because it encourages you to be present and aware of your thoughts and emotions without judgment, you can foster self-awareness, acceptance, and self-compassion. This practice helps you manage difficult emotions and thoughts more constructively, reducing the likelihood of depression. One study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showed that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, a form of meditation, has been shown to reduce depression symptoms.

And since meditation increases activity in the prefrontal cortex, which regulates your emotions, it equips you to regulate negative emotions like sadness or anger, which can contribute to chronic depression. Even just a few minutes a day can brighten your mood.

5 Soothe Physical Pains

Okay, we’re not downplaying real pain by saying, “It’s all in your head.” Physical pain is usually caused by a legitimate problem. But your brain is a powerful thing, and meditation can help you to manage the pain you’re feeling.

Regular meditation can change the brain’s pain-processing mechanisms, decreasing the intensity and unpleasantness of physical pain. Meditation’s pain-reducing potential is evidenced by a study published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research. Another study showed that mindfulness meditation was more effective than traditional pain management techniques in reducing chronic lower back pain.

So if you’re looking for a natural and effective way to reduce pain, try turning on a guided meditation like this one. A few minutes of mindfulness practice a day could help you feel more comfortable and relaxed, even in the face of physical discomfort.

4 Strengthen Your Immune System

Having just come down from a global pandemic, you know why a robust immune system is crucial to fend off illnesses and bounce back from infections. Along with its myriad health benefits, meditation positively impacts our immune system. Regularly practicing it can bolster your body’s natural defenses and cultivate better overall health.

A study published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences supports meditation’s role in enhancing immune function. Studies show that meditation enhances immune function in several ways, including:

1. It reduces stress and anxiety, which are known culprits in weakening your immune system.

2. It increases natural killer cell activity—an integral part of your immune defense—and raises antibody levels, proteins that neutralize harmful invaders.

3. It supports better sleep, allowing your body to fight infections more effectively and recover faster from illnesses.

So if you want to boost your immune system, consistent daily meditation is a great place to start! Whether you’re just getting started or have been practicing for years, taking a few minutes each day to quiet your mind and focus on your breath can help keep you from catching that flu.

3 Regulate Blood Pressure

Unless you’re like Dwight Shrute, who claims, “Through concentration, I can raise and lower my blood pressure at will,” you might want to listen up.

Did you know that blood pressure is the force exerted by blood on the walls of arteries as it flows? A consistently high flow of blood pressure can lead to serious health problems like heart disease and stroke. But regular meditation can help lower that pressure, so you can keep it within a healthy range.

By calming the mind and body, meditation reduces stress and anxiety—two villains behind high blood pressure. As your body enters a relaxed state during meditation, your heart rate and breathing slow down, blood vessels widen, and blood flows more smoothly, resulting in decreased pressure on arterial walls.

A meta-analysis published in the Journal of Hypertension found that meditation can help lower blood pressure in individuals with hypertension. Incorporating meditation into your daily routine, even for just a few minutes, can significantly reduce blood pressure.

2 Boost Cognitive Abilities

Want to be the next Einstein? It might be time to put down those flash cards and start working on your deep breathing.

Regular meditation can lead to brain structure and function changes, resulting in improved cognitive abilities. One of these changes involves strengthening the prefrontal cortex, which plays a crucial role in cognitive processes like attention, decision-making, and impulse control. Meditation also enlarges the hippocampus, the brain area responsible for learning and memory.

Beyond structural changes, meditation has enhanced cognitive performance across various tasks. It can improve working memory, attention, and cognitive flexibility.

1 Ease PTSD Symptoms

Meditation has proven to be a powerful tool for alleviating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). PTSD is no joke. It can be incredibly challenging, affecting many people who have experienced traumatic events.

A study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress found that meditation was associated with reduced PTSD symptoms, such as intrusive thoughts, avoidance, and hyperarousal. Meditation aids PTSD by lowering anxiety and stress levels. Individuals with PTSD often feel on edge and have heightened alertness. Meditation can calm the nervous system, mitigating anxiety and stress.

It can also help with emotional regulation when you struggle with intense emotions. Practicing mindfulness meditation gives you a chance to observe your own thoughts and emotions without becoming overwhelmed.

Birds do it, bees do it, and even kleptogenic salamanders do it. No, it’s not fall in love, although maybe that’s part of it. It’s just reproducing. And while as humans we’re most familiar with the process of one male and one female sharing some genetic material so that a baby can be formed, not every living thing under the sun likes to multiply in the same fashion. Some continue their genetic line in ways that are almost unbelievable. 

10. Kleptogenesis Involves Stealing Genetic Material

Kleptogenesis does not involve stealing an early 90s gaming system, but it’s potentially just as cool. One species of salamanders exist solely as females so when it comes time to reproduce they have to be a little bit more creative than your average binary species. In the case of these little amphibians,the solution to their single sex conundrum comes in the form of theft. They steal sperm from males of other species in the same genus and decide for themselves how to use it. If that sounds baffling it’s because it is, but it’s been happening for millions of years, so just assume they know what they’re doing.

Salamander males will drop sperm packets that will then fertilize eggs from the females. Normally this gives you the kind of reproduction you’d expect, with a baby salamander that’s 50% of each parent. But for this one species, that’s not the case.

The females, and there are only females in this species, can collect multiple sperm packets and then apparently they have the ability to sort the genes they want to use. The result is that some of these salamanders have up to five different genomes in their cells. 

The mothers are able to discard whatever genetic material they don’t want from the males, and pass down a variety of genomes, as few or as many as they want, to their offspring. Some have been identified from species the salamanders don’t even descend from.

So, how does a salamander choose what genes to pass on? Good question. Scientists are still trying to figure that out.

9. Gynogenesis Uses Sperm But Not for Genetic Material

This method is kind of similar to kleptogenesis, but more restrictive. Essentially, animals that reproduce through gynogenesis need sperm to start the reproductive process, but not to finish it. So sperm needs to reach an egg and begin fertilization, but then the sperm and its genetic material is discarded and the offspring is made up solely of what the mother brings to the table.Think of it like the mother asking the would-be father to unlock the door to their apartment, but then she closes it in his face after and spends the night alone.

The key thing to remember about gynogenesis and what separates it from something like asexual reproduction and parthenogenesis when only one parent is needed is that gynogenesis does require a male’s involvement, just not his genetics. 

8. Hybridogenesis Occurs When One Half of a Hybrid’s Parents Genetics Are Combined with a Second Parent’s

The term “sexual parasitism” doesn’t sound entirely pleasant, but that’s how you can describe hybridogenesis, an extremely rare form of reproduction that can only occur with an already existing genetic hybrid. The mother has two different genetics from species A and species B. When it is time to reproduce, she will produce a gamete that may be genetically all A or all B, not a combination. That means when the egg is fertilized it will be 50% of the male and then 50% of only one half of the female’s genetics, meaning one genome will be entirely eliminated in reproduction.

Consider something like a mule. It’s a hybrid of a donkey and a horse. If a female mule were to mate with a horse, the mule’s gamete could be 100% horse and no donkey at all. Thus, when the male fertilizes the egg, the offspring will be 100% horse and the donkey genetics will be totally absent. 

Typically, this type of reproduction occurs in some species of frogs and a few fish as something like a mule is usually sterile. That said, a few mules have been bred over the years and some of their offspring seem to be genetically full horses. 

7. Sporogenesis is the Production of Spores to Reproduce

Have you ever wondered how a mushroom reproduces? Well, wonder no more because many fungal species take part in sporogenesis. In these and some plant and algae species, reproductive spores are formed that can remain dormant for a very long time. This is chiefly as a way of preserving the species during unfavorable living conditions. So if there was a drought, for instance, a fungus could create these spores and they could remain lifeless until drought conditions passed and then they could begin to grow. 

Under normal conditions, a fungus could reproduce sexually, but it may also release spores that are genetically identical to the parents, when it needs to. It can continue to do this until such time as traditional reproduction is an option again. 

6. Parthenogenesis Happens When an Unfertilized Egg Produces Offspring

Parthenogenesis is sort of like a surprise method of reproduction where an animal that normally reproduces sexually is able to produce an egg that isn’t fertilized but still gives rise to offspring, in this case genetically identical to the parent. It’s a favorite method of reproduction for marine tardigrades and some much more complex organisms will occasionally reproduce this way as well. In one case, a female shark that hadn’t been exposed to males for years gave birth to a baby that was a clone of the mother. 

Various arachnid species may reproduce through parthenogenesis but it has also been noted in reptiles, amphibians and birds as well. 

5. Fragmentation Is When a Severed Piece of an Organism Can Keep Growing

In terms of creepy reproduction methods, you’d be hard pressed to find anything that tops fragmentation. This is the kind of stuff that happens in horror movies. In simple terms, this happens when an organism gets damaged so badly it loses a piece of itself. That new piece doesn’t just wither and die like your hand would if it was accidentally lopped off, however. Instead, it grows into a whole new organism.

The fragment offspring will be a clone of the parent so that when it’s done, there will be two identical organisms, even though there was nothing close to sex involved in the forming of the second organism. 

It’s possible for fragmentation to be a natural form of reproduction but it’s just as likely to happen when an accident rips a limb off. Fortunately for those who find it unsettling, not a lot of creatures are able to do it. Most notably, this is how some starfish are able to reproduce, but there are some other species like earthworms that can pull it off as well. 

4. Budding Occurs When a Species Grows a New Clone That Pinches Itself Off of the Parent

Budding sounds fairly innocuous and not at all like a method of reproduction but it’s the name for the process organisms like hydras, jellyfish and yeast undergo when it’s time to produce a new round of life. 

The name refers to the fact that the parent organism will develop what looks like an actual bud, like you might see on a plant. The bud begins to form an exact copy of the parent organism until it is complete enough to separate fully from the parent and exist as a separate life form. The parent is left with a scar where the bud baby pulled away and became something new.

The new organism will be identical genetically to the parent but it will also be smaller because it’s still growing. Unlike something like binary fission, which we’ll see shortly, this process can be done with more complex, multicellular organisms. In a way it’s like what you might consider a typical pregnancy but it’s asexual and the offspring doesn’t develop inside the parent but on the parent until it matures enough to leave. 

In a species like the hydra, the buds form at a specific juncture between the stalk and gastric regions. If conditions are ideal, the hydra can produce a new version of itself every couple of days this way. 

3. Heterogony Occurs When a Species is Born Pregnant

If you’re the kind of person who likes to cut out the middleman and get right to the point, then heterogony is for you. Insects like aphids are able to reproduce in this fashion and it allows for the new generation to be born already pregnant with no need to worry about that time-consuming mating process. 

Aphids don’t lay eggs; they have live births and a single aphid is able to produce several perfect clones a day. This is how aphid infestations are so efficient, you really only need one to start an entire colony.

The insects have the ability to reproduce sexually if they want to, and will do this to add genetic diversity to ensure stronger offspring when the situation allows.

2. Binary Fission Involves Making an Exact Copy

Binary fission sounds very sci-fi and maybe a little dangerous but it’s actually one of the simplest forms of reproduction in nature. So simple, in fact, only simple life forms like various kinds of bacteria can do it because the rest of us are just far too complex to pull it off.

Found in simple single-celled organisms and a few other microscopic beasts, binary fission occurs when the DNA of the single cell begins to copy itself and essentially sticks all of the new material to the wall of the cell until it’s so full of new material the cell splits in two and now there are two completely identical cells and the long single-celled organism has become two. It made its own twin!

1. Plant Grafting Can Mix Numerous Species in One Place

Plant reproduction is obviously a little different from animal reproduction but for the most part we understand that one plant needs to be pollinated by another and at some point a seed forms and maybe a new plant grows as a result. More or less. But plants have a few extra tricks up their sleeves that allow them to thrive under the most unusual conditions and nothing is more bizarre than grafting.

Because so many plants are genetically similar, as in they come from the same family, botanists and horticulturists have discovered over the years that you can take a cutting from one plant and attach it to a different plant to produce something brand new. And, just like a human limb transplant, that cutting can heal in place and begin to grow. But unlike a limb transplant, this new branch can be so different that what you create is a fruit tree that now grows two different fruits. Or, if you really want to push the envelope, you can make what they call fruit salad trees.

Right now you can buy a tree that grows limes, mandarin oranges and pomelos. Or maybe one that grows peaches, nectarines, plums and other stone fruit. Word is you can get some that grow as many as 7 or 8 different strains of fruit on the same tree and they come in four main varieties including citrus, stone fruit, apple and nashi which grow Asian pears