Hypothetical types of biochemistry are forms of biochemistry speculated to be scientifically viable but not proven to exist at this time. While the kinds of living beings we know on Earth commonly use carbon for basic structural and metabolic functions, water as a solvent and DNA or RNA to define and control their form, it may be possible that undiscovered life-forms could exist that differ radically in their basic structures and biochemistry from that known to science.
The possibility of extraterrestrial life being based on these "alternative" biochemistries is a common subject in science fiction, but is also discussed in a non-fiction scientific context.
Read more about Hypothetical Types Of Biochemistry: Scientists Who Have Considered This Topic, Alternative-chirality Biomolecules, Non-carbon-based Biochemistries, Carbon-based Alternatives To Hydrocarbons, Chlorine As An Alternative To Oxygen, Arsenic As An Alternative To Phosphorus, Selenium or Tellurium As An Alternative To Sulfur, Non-water Solvents, Usage in Fiction
Famous quotes containing the word types:
“If there is nothing new on the earth, still the traveler always has a resource in the skies. They are constantly turning a new page to view. The wind sets the types on this blue ground, and the inquiring may always read a new truth there.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)