Life needs a solvent, something nutrients, wastes, and gasses can be dissolved in within the range of pressures and conditions favorable to life. Water is an excellent polar solvent, it’s the first solvent most of us are familiar with, but critically water doesn’t dissolve fats. So water can carry oxygen, CO2, carbonate, electrolytes, all sorts of wastes, and so on… AND it won’t dissolve our cell membranes as well.
It’s surprisingly difficult to find a fluid with all of those properties!
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