Exobiology

Welcome to the Wikiversity Center for Exobiology, part of the School of Biology.

How common are the conditions required for life?

Exobiology, also known as xenobiology or astrobiology, is a speculative field within biology concerned with extraterrestrial life.

The Center for Exobiology is a Wikiversity content development project where participants create, organize and develop learning resources about the search for life beyond Earth.

Where are the data?

Terrestrial Planet Finder.

Astrobiology is an idea in search of data. Many scientists expect that life is common, probably having come into existence on millions of planets. However, astrobiology is a speculative field within biology; nobody has evidence for extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology includes the concept of artificial life, since any life form with human-like intelligence could conceivably create artificial life in a laboratory. Such artificial life might be more suitable than a biological organism for interstellar travel. While currently funded efforts in astrobiology focus on planetary exploration and attempts to detect planets with Earth-like atmospheres, it has been suggested that we should also look closely at Earth for signs that alien artificial life is already here.

Possible data

• Search for life on Mars
• Liquid water on Europa
• Replacement of phosphorus by arsenic in living organisms

Learning resources

• The Drake Equation
• can human like intelligence evolve under water?
• can comets incubate life and seed it to planets?

See Also

• Astrosociobiology
• UFO research

External Links

• Search for life on Mars
• NASA astrobiology
• NASA exobiology
• Astrobiology Magazine News
• www.astrobiology.com
• discussion group
• Astrobiology Survey - An introductory course on astrobiology