On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The search for extraterrestrials must look beyond life as we know it, scientists have advised NASA. The space agency mostly hunts for life that, like on Earth, is based on water, carbon and DNA, a National Research Council committee found. The dozen committee members—specialists in genetics, chemistry, biology and other fields—instead recommend NASA consider what they call “bizarre life.” For instance, synthetic biology experiments have devised molecules that encode genetic data but that have more nucleotides than DNA or RNA do. Instead of water, aliens might employ ammonia or sulfuric acid as the basis for their life-sustaining biochemical reactions. Novel organisms might use minerals as catalysts, rather than enzymes. In their July 6 report, the council scientists singled out Saturn's moon Titan (photograph) as especially deserving of a follow-up mission because of evidence of mixtures of liquid ammonia and water in its interior.
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
