No one has actually ever defined what life is. What most astrobiologists default to is nassa's operational definition of life, which is a self-sustaining chemical reaction that's of darwinian evolution. You could imagine a chemistry that is different to ours, that is living. In the lab on earth, certain oxides of metals called polyoxy metallates can show very lifelike capabilities.
Mass shootings in Buffalo, Tulsa and Uvalde appear to have broken a longstanding impasse over federal gun laws. A bipartisan group of senators has laid out a legislative framework—but whether that turns into an actual bill remains unclear. Scientists are rethinking what might constitute the building blocks of extraterrestrial life. And why people seem to love boring video games.
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