Alien biochemistries
Abstract
Astrobiology involves the study of the origin and history of life on Earth, planets and moons where life may have arisen, and the search for extraterrestrial life. It combines the sciences of biology, chemistry, palaeontology, geology, planetary physics and astronomy. This textbook brings together world experts in each of these disciplines to provide the most comprehensive coverage of the field currently available. Topics cover the origin and evolution of life on Earth, the geological, physical and chemical conditions in which life might arise and the detection of extraterrestrial life on other planets and moons. The book also covers the history of our ideas on extraterrestrial life and the origin of life, as well as the ethical, philosophical and educational issues raised by astrobiology. Written to be accessible to students from diverse backgrounds, this text will be welcomed by advanced undergraduates and graduates who are taking astrobiology courses.
Integrity signals
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Cites
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Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The amino acids used by life show little correlation with abiotic synthesis of amino acids.
“For example, the amino acids used by life show little correlation with abiotic synthesis of amino acids (Ward and Benner, 2007), and only four bases are used in nucleic acids when others are also possible (Benner and Sismour, 2005; Yang et al., 2006).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Ward and Benner, 2007
The chemical reactivity of water leads to degradation of essential biopolymers such as DNA and RNA, which must be continually repaired in Earth-based life.
“Another disadvantage is that the chemical reactivity of water leads to degradation of essential biopolymers such as DNA and RNA, which must be continually repaired in Earth-based life (Ward and Benner, 2007).”
From The Astrobiology Primer v2.0 (2016) · cites this paper as Ward and Benner, 2007
Cites
Benner, S. A., & Sismour, A. M. (2005) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg1637 · Cited by 834 · see citing works
Self-citationIs there a common chemical model for life in the universe?
Benner, S. A., Ricardo, A., & Carrigan, M. A. (2004) · Current Opinion in Chemical Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2004.10.003 · Cited by 363 · see citing works
Self-citationMany Chemistries Could Be Used to Build Living Systems
Bains, W. (2004) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/153110704323175124 · Cited by 193 · see citing works
Nucleobase Pairing in Expanded Watson-Crick-like Genetic Information Systems
Geyer, C. R., Battersby, T. R., & Benner, S. A. (2003) · Structure · doi:10.1016/j.str.2003.11.008 · Cited by 159 · see citing works
Self-citation
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Domagal-Goldman, S. D., Wright, K. E., Adamala, K., Arina de la Rubia, L., Bond, J., Dartnell, L. R., Goldman, A. D., Lynch, K., et al. (2016) · Astrobiology · doi:10.1089/ast.2015.1460 · Cited by 136 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ward, P. D., & Benner, S. A.
- Venue
- Planets and Life
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press
- Published
- 2007-09-13
- Pages
- 537-544
- OpenAlex
- W4210475161
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2020: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 1.11
- Type
- book chapter
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cambridge University Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Origins and Evolution of Life
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Keywords
- extraterrestrial life, origin of life, astrobiology, life detection, habitability, history of astrobiology, astrobiology education
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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