Follow the Nitrogen

摘要

"Follow the water" is the mantra used by NASA in the search for life in the universe. It is hard to imagine life without a fluid, or to imagine that the fluid could be anything other than water. From our Earth-centric point of view, it is equally difficult to imagine life without carbon and nitrogen. These two elements, by virtue of their ability to form double bonds, allow the formation of a multitude of unsaturated and aromatic compounds that impart both structural strength and energetic versatility to earthly life. We propose here that the lack of a substantial geological reservoir of nitrogen (1, 2) makes it an ideal candidate in the search for life on Mars and other planetary bodies: "follow the nitrogen."