Where we love is home
In the search for extraterrestrial life, some scientists say we’re focusing too much on finding signs of existence as we know it, and in the process, we may be missing more strange forms of life that don’t rely on water or carbon metabolism.
Now researchers from Austria have started a systematic study of solvents other than water that might be able to support life outside our planet. They’re hoping their research will lead to a shift in what they call the “geocentric mindset” of our attempts to detect extraterrestrial life. (…)
While water is liquid only between zero and 100 degrees Celsius, other solvents are liquid over a much larger temperature range. For instance, because ammonia stays liquid at a lower temperature, an ocean of ammonia could exist on a planet much further from its host star.
