What does it mean to be “alive”? Astrobiologists such as Nathalie Cabrol must contend with the lack of a concrete answer as they explore the universe looking for something out there that can properly be called life. As director of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe at the SETI Institute, which focuses on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), Cabrol avoids imposing strict limitations on where and how life has, could or will evolve. After all, we still don’t quite understand how life emerged on our own world.
In her new book The Secret Life of the Universe, Cabrol presents both a comprehensive guide to how life could have evolved across our solar system and a review of life’s own journey on Earth, using historical, scientific and even spiritual lenses. Cabrol grounds our quest to find and define “life” in the natural balance, the give and take, between the biological and its environment. In doing so, she highlights how unnatural humanity’s recent relationship with Earth truly is, emphasizing a need to restore balance with our home planet as we continue to explore other worlds.
Scientific American spoke with Cabrol about the field of astrobiology’s rapid growth, the ways we can prepare for the day we do find extraterrestrial life and the interconnectedness between the living and nonliving, between ourselves and the universe.
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