Eli5: There’s this Immunologist at Stanford suggesting the possible existence of a shadow biosphere. What is that though?

Question

Eli5: There’s this Immunologist at Stanford suggesting the possible existence of a shadow biosphere. What is that though?

In: 84

Answer 1

The shadow biosphere is just the proposition that life could exist using different chemicals and processes than what we know to exist traditionally, and therefore may be harder to detect based on what we normally use to detect life. For example, an organism who primarily uses RNA instead of DNA, or using arsenic in their DNA instead of phosphorous.

Answer 2

The shadow biosphere is just the proposition that life could exist using different chemicals and processes than what we know to exist traditionally, and therefore may be harder to detect based on what we normally use to detect life. For example, an organism who primarily uses RNA instead of DNA, or using arsenic in their DNA instead of phosphorous.