Thinking outside Earth’s box—how might heredity and evolution differ on other worlds?

Abstract

AbstractScholars and the public conceive of extraterrestrial life through the lens of "life as we know it" on Earth. However, assumptions based on centuries of study around heredity and evolution on Earth may not apply to life truly independent forms of life, and some perspectives accepted or ruled out in the nineteenth century may need to be re-evaluated for life outside of Earth. In honor of the 200th birthday of Mendel, and to provide raw material for the creativity of storytellers, filmmakers, and the public, this thought experiment essay revisits a handful of classic concepts and approaches, as well as some unusual forms of life on Earth, to posit whether different types of genetics and evolution may exist in truly independent extraterrestrial forms. While fundamental evolutionary processes like natural selection and genetic drift are likely to still apply at least similarly in independent life forms, inheritance may be quite radically different from that envisioned by Mendel and others since.