Overview

A pioneering astrobiochemist argues that the 1976 Viking landers may already have found life on Mars P#8211; and shows how we can prove it Are we alone in the universe? Mars has always seemed where we were likeliest to find the answer. Yet, since the Viking landers touched down in 1976, no mission has returned to the Martian surface to search directly for life living there now. Instead weP#8217;re searching the moons of outer planets, or the atmospheres of planets many light years away.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;In Plt;iPgt;Meet the NeighborsPlt;/iPgt;, pioneering astrobiochemist Steven A. Benner argues that this was a historic mistake. That weP#8217;re looking in the wrong placePlt;bPgt;. Plt;/bPgt;Drawing on the Viking archive and explaining how the scientific process failed, he re-examines the mission that first searched for extant Martian life and makes the provocative case that its results were misunderstood. In the decades that have followed, Mars science has focused on water, geology and past habitability, while the most direct question P#8211; is anything alive on Mars today? P#8211; has been pushed aside.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;Benner shows why Mars remains the most accessible place to discover a second origin of life, and why finding even microbial organisms there would transform our understanding of our place in the cosmos. He also asks a deeper question: what counts as life in the first place? From the chemistry that may give rise to living systems to \Pquot;agnostic\Pquot; tools capable of detecting unfamiliar biology, he lays out a bold and practical blueprint for the next phase of exploration.Plt;BRPgt;Plt;BRPgt;At once a scientific detective story, a challenge to decades of orthodoxy, and a lucid guide to one of humanityP#8217;s biggest questions, Plt;iPgt;Meet the NeighborsPlt;/iPgt; is the definitive, urgent brief on where to go, what to measure, and why the next discovery wonP#8217;t just change textbooks P#8211; it will rewrite our place in the universe.

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Reviews

Bravo to Benner, one of the world’s most accomplished chemists, for putting the possibility of extant Martian life back on the scientific agenda -- Paul Davies, author of Quantum 2.0

Bravo to Benner, one of the world’s most accomplished chemists, for putting the possibility of extant Martian life back on the scientific agenda -- Paul Davies, author of Quantum 2.0 In his terrific new book, Benner draws powerful conclusions … He assembles an impressive body of evidence to support his bold claim that there is almost certainly life on Mars and that, furthermore, life originated on the Red Planet before it appeared on Earth, and in all probability was the source of life here -- Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society

extremely enlightening -- Kate Gardner * Physics World * Bravo to Benner, one of the world’s most accomplished chemists, for putting the possibility of extant Martian life back on the scientific agenda -- Paul Davies, author of Quantum 2.0 In his terrific new book, Benner draws powerful conclusions … He assembles an impressive body of evidence to support his bold claim that there is almost certainly life on Mars and that, furthermore, life originated on the Red Planet before it appeared on Earth, and in all probability was the source of life here -- Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society

Author Information

Plt;bPgt;Steven A. BennerPlt;/bPgt; is a chemist, synthetic biologist, paleogenetist, and astrobiologist whose work began at Harvard University and developed at the ETH Zurich and the University of Florida before success in inventing medical and biotechnology products allowed him to found The Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution. Throughout, he has helped reshape the modern definition of life and the search for it beyond Earth. In 2023 he was awarded the Harold Urey Medal from the International Astrobiology Society for the study of the origin of life.

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