• Question: When we run out of space on earth and have to live on other planets without water (?), do you think we could get all the vital minerals and proteins we need to live and age healthily from just pills??

    Asked by steveb to Alex, Amy, Andy, Georgia, Ollie on 16 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Ollie Russell

      Ollie Russell answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      You could make all those things and put them in pill form and live a full life and be healthy. Although I think it would taste rank! However, making all these vitamins, proteins and sugars will require water during as an ingredient when you make them. I also think that the problem with this is that Humans need water to survive.

      I think the best thing to do would be to find a planet that at least had oxygen and hydrogen on it so you could make water, and then you could grow plants as well.

      Good question! Although I think there wouldnt be much point in leaving Earth if you’ll never be able to eat a decent Sunday roast again!

    • Photo: Andy MacLeod

      Andy MacLeod answered on 16 Jun 2011:

      Hey steveb. I don’t think we could survive anywhere without water. If we found somewhere with enough sunlight, and suitable soil conditions, we could probably get a lot of our nutrients from plants, so we wouldn’t have to live entirely on pills. But again, they would need water to grow, and that’s always going to be a limiting factor.

      There is water beyond earth – you just need to look at comets, or some of the moons of the outer planets, which are covered in ice. Whether there’ll be enough to sustain us – that’s a different question. One that I don’t know the answer to I’m afraid.

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