Alien life - not necessarily as we know it

• Autores: Steven A. Benner
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3048, 2015, págs. 28-29
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Benner talks about the different molecular biology of Martian life and Earth life. For people, the finger number reflects choices made millions of years ago. This number could have been determined simply by accident. Once determined, it may have been difficult to change, therefore persisting in all primates. Darwinism allows a second explanation: fitness. Primates with 10 digits may have been more likely to survive and have children than primates with eight. Vestigiality is a third explanation. Here, a physiological feature--the human appendix is one example--may have contributed to fitness in the past, but not any longer.