The hunt for extraterrestrial life gets weird

Humans have long pondered the possibility that life exists beyond Earth, but so far the quest for habitable worlds has focused on searching for water since life here requires it. In Wired Science's Sept. 22 article "The Hunt For Extraterrestrial Life Gets Weird", writer Hadley Leggett examines the efforts of researchers from Austria who have started a systematic study of solvents other than water that might be able to support life outside our planet. Leggett includes in the article Ariel Anbar, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration and the department of chemistry and biochemistry and head of ASU's Astrobiology team. As one of the new NASA Astrobiology Institute teams, ASU researchers intend to boost extraterrestrial exploration to the next stage by refining the criteria that guide the search for life.

According to Anbar, the Austrian researchers are not the first to consider the possibility of exotic life supported by a solvent other than water. The idea dates back to at least 1954, when J.B.S. Haldane speculated that ammonia might be able to sustain life. He says that "the notion of alternative solvents is certainly plausible, though entirely unproven." Anbar goes on to say that the topic has received less attention than it deserves because life as we don't know it is so hard to study.

Anbar claims that the search for extraterrestrial life is limited more by our access to extraterrestrial environments than by our conception of what life might look like.

"However, as we plan future missions to Mars and elsewhere, especially Titan," he said, "and as we begin to consider the prospects for life in the solar systems other than our own that are being discovered at a rapid pace, it's important to begin thinking about ‘weird life' so that we don't miss something under our noses."

Learn more about the Astrobiology team at ASU: http://astrobiology.asu.edu/Astrobiology/Home/Home.html