"Alternative Chemistries for Life: Empirical Approaches" Official Report Released!

Professor Walker is author on a report from a NASA and NSF sponsored workshop she co-organized on "alternative chemistries for life".  The full report is available here. The report combines bottom-up perspectives based on detailing the steps in chemical evolution leading to the emergence of life, top-down perspectives exploring possible chemistries for life in the extant biosphere, and a novel "golden-spike" at the intersection of these two approaches which aims to work outward from extant life to identify what alternative chemistries for biology are possible. The report also includes a number of recommendations for moving forward in these key areas. 

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