Posthuman Blues

In a Strange Universe, We Stick to Search For Familiar Life

Black holes inhale entire galaxies. Gamma-ray bursts release more energy in a blink than our Sun can produce in a billion years. Super-nova explosions scatter elements, like pollen, on the stellar wind.

In the face of so much strangeness, it may be only human nature to seek out the familiar. Those searching for extraterrestrial life, however, ought to abandon the assumption that alien organisms would utilize the same biochemical architecture as life on Earth, a research panel recently urged.

"It is clear that nothing would be more tragic in the American exploration of space than to encounter alien life without recognizing it," said University of Washington oceanographer John Baross. He is chairman of a National Research Council panel that recently issued a report called "The Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems."