> The field of exobiology is the study of which topic?And the answer: life in outer space. As the Merriam-Webster dictionary explains, exobiology is "a branch of biologyconcerned with the search for life outside the earth and with the effects ofextraterrestrial environments on living organisms."Photo credit: ysjournal.com[https://ysjournal.com/exobiology-the-hunt-for-extraterrestrial-life/].Whilemost simply wonder if life on other planets is possible, a field of researchersat NASA and other space agencies have fashioned their careers around the fieldof exobiology. The endeavor not only seeks to confirm the possibility of lifebeyond our Earth, but also to understand the origin, evolution, and distributionof life in the universe.There are several distinct areas of research which inform exobiology. The firstsurrounds the planetary conditions required to support life, and includes topicsthat seek to uncover which planets are formed to support habitable conditions,how complex molecules form and occupy planetary surfaces, and so on. This areaof research within exobiology is a necessary precursor to understanding how lifecan exist in largely non-oxygenated conditions. Similarly, the field ofprebiotic evolution attempts to connect the dots between planetary evolution andthe evolution of living systems on that planet. Another area of research in exobiology surrounds an examination of the earlyevolution of life on Earth. While it may seem antithetical to attempt tounderstand life on other planets by looking simply at our own, the key tounlocking evolutionary knowledge can be found in abundance at our own doorstep.By studying the molecular record in living organisms and the geological recordof the Earth, scientists can better understand the early conditions of ourplanet and the conditions which allowed life systems to ultimately thrive. Thisknowledge can then be applied to other planets showing similar signs of earlyevolution. Then, researchers can look to advanced life on Earth and examine whenand where multicellular evolution began to take hold. Learn more about exobiology and its applications here[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK217840/].