The key to determining which planets could host extraterrestrial life could be growing in the harshest deserts of Earth in the form of lichen. The secret to this discovery: the "world's best sunscreen."
That's according to scientists who have found that lichen in the Mojave Desert managed to survive for 3 months under levels of intense radiation from the sun that had previously been considered lethal to this organism.
While the lichen was badly damaged, it was able to recover and eventually replicate. That indicates to scientists that other extraterrestrial life that requires photosynthesis could prosper on terrestrial or rocky extrasolar planets, or "exoplanets," even if they are exposed to radiation from their own star that had previously been considered deadly.
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