Exobiology
Welcome to the Wikiversity Center for Exobiology, part of the School of Biology.
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?[edit | edit source]
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[edit | edit source]
- Search for life on Mars
- Liquid water on Europa
- Replacement of phosphorus by arsenic in living organisms
Learning resources[edit | edit source]
- The Drake Equation
- can human like intelligence evolve under water?
- can comets incubate life and seed it to planets?
References[edit | edit source]
See Also[edit | edit source]
External Links[edit | edit source]
- Search for life on Mars
- NASA astrobiology
- NASA exobiology
- Astrobiology Magazine News
- www.astrobiology.com
- discussion group
- Astrobiology Survey - An introductory course on astrobiology