what “carbon based” life means
In: Biology
When I make a really nice bolognese, I call it a tomato-based sauce. Why? Because the sauce is mainly defined by how the tomato tastes, acts and reacts. When you look at life on earth, the biology is mainly defined by the behaviours and characteristics of carbon. Sure, the human body might be mainly “other stuff”, just like how my bolognese is full of non-tomato ingredients – but the carbon is one of the big defining elements. Just like how there’s other bases to use for a sauce, we have theories that it’s possible to use other elements as the base for life. We haven’t found any, for obvious reasons, but it may be possible.
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