Xenobiology, as a research area, investigates biological systems that differ fundamentally from known terrestrial life in their molecular composition, information carriers, or biochemical logic, aiming to define and experimentally explore alternative forms of life. It encompasses the design and study of organisms with expanded genetic alphabets, noncanonical nucleic acids or amino acids, alternative metabolic pathways, and orthogonal biological networks that do not cross-talk with natural biosystems. Xenobiology research informs the theoretical limits of life, biosafety through genetic firewalls, and the development of novel biotechnological platforms with tailored properties, while providing conceptual and experimental frameworks relevant to astrobiology and the characterization of life’s possible chemistries.
This year's Lunar Planetary Science Conference (2025 LPSC) saw some truly astounding presentations and proposals. These covered a wide range of science and exploration missions that address the priorities of NASA, other space ...
Astrobiology
Apr 21, 2025
0
3
Onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the Extant Life Volumetric Imaging System, dubbed ELVIS, is not about resurrecting rock-n-roll legends, but pioneering scientific discovery. Using innovative holographic technology ...
Astrobiology
Apr 17, 2025
0
66
Scientists are currently planning two major space missions to search for life in space: NASA's Project HWO and Project LIFE, led by ETH Zurich. If one of these missions were to discover life on an exoplanet, i.e., a planet ...
Astrobiology
Apr 17, 2025
0
5
Are we alone in the universe? The answer to one of humanity's biggest questions is complicated by a basic reality: If there is life on other worlds, it may not look familiar. A sample of rocks from Mars or another planet ...
Astrobiology
Apr 10, 2025
1
89
What if humanity's search for life on other planets returns no hits? A team of researchers led by Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, a Physicist in Professor Sascha Quanz's Exoplanets and Habitability Group at ETH Zurich and a SETI ...
Astrobiology
Apr 7, 2025
0
85
News stories about the likely existence of extraterrestrial life, and our chances of detecting it, tend to be positive. We are often told that we might discover it any time now. Finding life beyond Earth is "only a matter ...
Astrobiology
Jan 14, 2025
6
131
Extraterrestrial and artificial life have long captivated the human mind. Knowing only the building blocks of our own biosphere, can we predict how life may exist on other planets? What factors will rein in the Frankensteinian ...
Astrobiology
Dec 24, 2024
0
115
It seems that we are completely alone in the universe. But simple reasoning suggests that there should be an abundance of alien civilizations. Maybe they're all out there, but they are keeping their distance. Welcome to the ...
Astrobiology
Dec 18, 2024
2
67
We have only one example of biology forming in the universe—life on Earth. But what if life can form in other ways? How do you look for alien life when you don't know what alien life might look like?
Astrobiology
Dec 9, 2024
0
187
One of the most challenging aspects of astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is anticipating what life and extraterrestrial civilizations will look like. Invariably, we have only one example ...
Astrobiology
Nov 14, 2024
0
16
