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What can Rapid Terrestrial Biogenesis Tell Us about Life in the Universe?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Charles H. Lineweaver  and
Tamara M. Davis
Charles H. Lineweaver
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales and the Australian Centre for Astrobiolgy, Sydney, Australia [email protected]
Tamara M. Davis
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales and the Australian Centre for Astrobiolgy, Sydney, Australia [email protected]

Abstract

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It is sometimes asserted that the rapidity of biogenesis on Earth suggests that life is common in the Universe. We critically examine the assumptions inherent in this argument. Using a lottery model for biogenesis in the Universe, we convert the observational constraints on the rapidity of biogenesis on Earth into constraints on the probability of biogenesis on other terrestrial planets. For example, if terrestrial biogenesis took less than 200 Myr (and we assume that it could have taken 1 billion years) then we find the probability of biogenesis on terrestrial planets older than ∼ 1 Gyr, is > 36% at the 95% confidence level. However, there are assumptions and selection effects that complicate this result: although we correct the analysis for the fact that biogenesis is a prerequisite for our existence, our result depends on the plausible assumption that rapid biogenesis is not such a prerequisite.

Type
Origins and Evolution of Life
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 259 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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