How to improve the search for aliens
So far, people have sought Earthlike biology. That will change
For decades, astronomers searching for life beyond humanity’s home planet have had a simple strategy: follow the water. Water is the sine qua non of terrestrial life and as thousands of new planets have been discovered orbiting faraway stars, the greatest levels of excitement have usually been reserved for those in the “habitable zones” of their systems—in other words orbiting at a distance where liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Life, but not as we know it”
From the May 28th 2022 edition
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