Posts by Steven A. Benner

We cannot assume that life elsewhere in the universe will resemble terrestrial life, even at the molecular level, but this presents a problem: how will we recognize the signs of alien biochemistry if we find them? Synthetic biology provides an answer. Regardless of where it lives, complex life must be able to chemically encode large, diverse bodies of information, and only molecules with certain readily observable chemical properties can do this. Look for these molecules, and you'll find life.