Rerun the tape of evolution, and DNA, RNA, ATP, the Krebs cycle - the rigmarole of Biology 101 - would probably arise again, here or in distant worlds, writes George Johnson in the New York Times : Single cells would then join together, seeking the advantages of metazoan life, until before you know it something like the earthly menagerie would come to be. To understand what life might look like elsewhere, it is critical that we have a thorough understanding of how it works here. These equations are consistent, so far as we can tell, anywhere in the universe. There are equations and rules that are not limited to living systems that underlie the way that life operates. Single cells would then join together, seeking the advantages of metazoan life, until before you know it something like the earthly menagerie would come to be. Rerun the tape of evolution, and DNA, RNA, ATP, the Krebs cycle - the rigmarole of Biology 101 - would probably arise again, here or in distant worlds. And life, as Cockell puts it, is simply living matter, “material capable of reproducing and evolving.” If there is biology elsewhere in the universe, we would find it strikingly familiar not only in appearance but down to the carbon-based machinery in its cells. No matter how different the conditions on distant worlds, all presumably have the same laws of physics - from quantum mechanics to thermodynamics and the laws of gravity, reports the New York Times.
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