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Assessing the Possibility of Biological Complexity on Other Worlds, with an Estimate of the Occurrence of Complex Life in the Milky Way Galaxy

Author

Listed:
  • Louis N. Irwin

    (Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 W. University Avenue, El Paso, TX 79968, USA)

  • Abel Méndez

    (Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, Arecibo, Puerto Rico 00163, USA)

  • Alberto G. Fairén

    (Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, 426 Space Science Bldg., Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
    Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, M-108 Km 4, Torrejón de Ardoz 28850, Spain)

  • Dirk Schulze-Makuch

    (School of the Environment, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
    Center of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin 10623, Germany)

Abstract

Rational speculation about biological evolution on other worlds is one of the outstanding challenges in astrobiology. With the growing confirmation that multiplanetary systems abound in the universe, the prospect that life occurs redundantly throughout the cosmos is gaining widespread support. Given the enormous number of possible abodes for life likely to be discovered on an ongoing basis, the prospect that life could have evolved into complex, macro-organismic communities in at least some cases merits consideration. Toward that end, we here propose a Biological Complexity Index (BCI), designed to provide a quantitative estimate of the relative probability that complex, macro-organismic life forms could have emerged on other worlds. The BCI ranks planets and moons by basic, first-order characteristics detectable with available technology. By our calculation only 11 (~1.7%) of the extrasolar planets known to date have a BCI above that of Europa; but by extrapolation, the total of such planets could exceed 100 million in our galaxy alone. This is the first quantitative assessment of the plausibility of complex life throughout the universe based on empirical data. It supports the view that the evolution of complex life on other worlds is rare in frequency but large in absolute number.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis N. Irwin & Abel Méndez & Alberto G. Fairén & Dirk Schulze-Makuch, 2014. "Assessing the Possibility of Biological Complexity on Other Worlds, with an Estimate of the Occurrence of Complex Life in the Milky Way Galaxy," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-16, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jchals:v:5:y:2014:i:1:p:159-174:d:36600
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Lynn J. Rothschild & Rocco L. Mancinelli, 2001. "Life in extreme environments," Nature, Nature, vol. 409(6823), pages 1092-1101, February.
    2. Christopher F. Chyba, 1997. "Life on other moons," Nature, Nature, vol. 385(6613), pages 201-201, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Khaidem, Luckyson & Saha, Snehanshu & Kar, Saibal & Mathur, Archana & Saha, Sriparna, 2020. "Expert Habitat: A Colonization Conjecture for Exoplanetary Habitability via penalized multi-objective optimization and Swarm Clustering based candidate validation," MPRA Paper 109939, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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