Carbon-based Alternatives To Hydrocarbons
In hydrogen-depleted or strongly oxidizing environments, a carbon-based biology in which little to no hydrogen is used might be a possibility. Such "hydrogenless life" would use oxocarbons (such as mellitic anhydride or similar) as its building blocks, instead of hydrocarbons.
Read more about this topic: Hypothetical Types Of Biochemistry
Famous quotes containing the word alternatives:
“The last alternatives they face
Of face, without the life to save,
Being from all salvation weaned
A stag charged both at heel and head:
Who would come back is turned a fiend
Instructed by the fiery dead.”
—Allen Tate (1899–1979)