Search for Life in the Solar System

“It is critical to know what to look for in the search for life in the solar system. The search so far has focused on Earth-like life because that’s all we know, but life that may have originated elsewhere could be unrecognizable compared with life here. Advances throughout the last decade in biology and biochemistry show that the basic requirements for life might not be as concrete as we thought.” John Baross - Professor of Oceanography and the Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington and lead author U.S. National Research Council report: “The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems”