Silicon is a similar element to carbon, it is a metaloid (having both organic properties and metallic properties) element that has four valence electrons like carbon and can then form just as many molecular analogs as carbon.
This idea has been present in science fiction since the early 1900's and is famous for creating aliens that look like big rocks, like the infamous Horta from Star Trek. This idea for the Silicon based alien is the more established form that people have thought it would take, because of silicon's use in building materials like clay and cement as well as its rock-like properties in nature.
This is directly contradictory to the martian in "lifeform" as it is more fluid and animal-like when it chases its victims in the military base. This issue is addressed in an this Q & A done by NASA. This could be an indication of the progression of the new uses of silicon as a semi-conductor material in things like computers and electronics that are becoming more common and versatile now than in the time of Star Trek and are consequently being more common in science fiction.
Another example is demonstrated in this BBC video about the possibility of Silicon based life.
As the video suggests, there is an issue of carbon "out-competing" silicon as the primary basis of life on the planet and it needed to be "locked away" and unable to be accessed. This is one of the main problems with silicon based life becoming successful, there is more carbon in the universe and carbon is a lot more versatile at forming many different kinds of molecules. As it turns out in practice and in nature, silicon is a lot less stable building block for making large, complicated bio-molecules. Silicon just wouldn't ever get the chance to make great lifeforms with carbon around being all efficient with making great lifeforms.
This implication is answered for in the movie, where it is found that the martian only uses basic chemical reactions, one example being the digestion of gunpowder to react with sulfur in order to provide energy for a battery-like organ that stores it. Carbon based organisms store energy in lipids that have to be broken down in order to release the energy which is comparably more complicated than utilizing a battery. Instead of having a respiratory system that gives all the cells in your body energy, the martian from the movie likely uses a kind of circuitry system that doesn't require the ability to absorb oxygen through breathing.
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| There's a car battery in here someplace |
How could an organism like this evolve? Silicon is the only known element besides carbon to create large enough molecules to support genetic material, so it could very well evolve through genetic offspring.While being an asexual creature would be a bonus in that it guarantees offspring, it doesn't provide a very easy way of genetic variability which is essential to evolution, unless it was possible to do both like an earthworm.
and that's my take on the martian guy from the obscure tv movie "Lifeform," it has reasonable plausibility provided that there isn't a lot of carbon around. If you're interested in learning more about some of the facts about silicon based life, here's my references.
The Encyclopedia of Science
PNAS(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America)
NASA Astrobiology Institute
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