National Academies: Life on Other Planets Could be "Weird"

The National Academies of Science speculate that life, should it exist, on other planets or moons in our solar system could be very different from life on Earth. So different, according to a report from the Academies’ National Research Council, that it could be downright "weird."

Authors of the NASA-sponsored report The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems are concerned that life on other planets could be so different that human explorers might not recognize it as a life form at all. "[I]t is clear that nothing would be more tragic in the American exploration of space than to encounter alien life without recognizing it," states the report.

Alien life, suggests the report, might follow completely different chemical and genetic rules, and have different requirements for survival than Earth-based life. "Life" on Mars, for example, might not require water, but could exist on liquid ammonia.

"The search so far has focused on Earth-like life because that's all we know, but life that may have originated elsewhere could be unrecognizable compared with life here," said John Baross, chairman of the report committee in a press release. "Advances throughout the last decade in biology and biochemistry show that the basic requirements for life might not be as concrete as we thought."

Also See: National Academies Launch Evolution Website