There are physical and chemical proof to how life can evolve with no limits, and scientists have determined that many times due to studies made on plants that have developed unique ways of adaptation on Earth.
Therefore, the routes taken by the terrestrial life forms from simple unicellular organisms to form more complex entities may give clues to how life could develop elsewhere in the cosmos.
In their study, Schulze-Makuch and Bains identified by first key evolutionary innovations that drove the development of life on Earth from microbes to humans that can travel to the space. These include the transition from unicellular life to multicellular life, the emergence of photosynthesis, evolution of macroscopic life and the emergence of intelligent life.
They then analyzed whether such major evolutionary events occurred many times in different organisms or they were due to random events. In their research they found that most critical innovations were “invented” several times. For example, photosynthesis originated independently in four different points in the history of life, and multicellularity emerged several times in different kinds of organisms.
“Since we have multiple examples of these key evolutionary adaptations that occur along the route between the simplest organism and humans, we have to accept that they are not extremely improbable, but only time – consuming and appropriate to emerge conditions , “says Schulze-Makuch.”
Therefore, in any world where life has emerged and there is sufficient flow of energy, we are confident that we will find complex life such as animals. ”
Earth is the only planet where you know that there is life on, and humans are the only species that are known to have developed technology. Therefore, it is impossible to say whether this should be a common occurrence in other worlds, a very rare event or something in between.
Schulze-Makuch and Bains wrote that scientists should not only expect to find microbial biological traces on a planet with life, but also traces resulting from large multicellular organisms and complex ones, as the band network edge , own vegetation, which is the length lightwave suggesting the existence of plants.
Iin particular, our research is relevant to the selection of tools used by scientists in the search for life on planets in other solar systems , ” says Schulze-Makuch. “In future missions, NASA researchers, the SETI Institute (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and other organizations should consider using instruments capable of finding signs of a global and diverse biosphere in other worlds.”
The work was funded by a grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
