The universal nature of biochemistry

Abstract

People have long speculated about the possibility of life in settings other than Earth. Only in the past few centuries, however, have we been able to conceive of the specific nature of such settings: other planets around our own sun and solar systems similar to our own elsewhere in the physical universe. Speculation on the nature of life elsewhere often has paid little heed to constraints imposed by the nature of biochemistry, however. A century of fanciful science fiction has resulted not only in social enthusiasm for the quest for extraterrestrial life, but also in fanciful notions of the chemical and physical forms that life can take, what the nature of life can be. Since the time of the Viking missions to Mars, in the mid-1970s, our view of life's diversity on Earth has expanded significantly, and we have a better understanding of the extreme conditions that limit life. Consequently, our search for extant life elsewhere in the solar system can now be conducted with broader perspective than before.