Limits of Life

This report, which I read about in the NYTimes, is about whether alien life may be based on chemistry that doesn't rely on carbon, liquid water, etc - all the things we assume it must. It is an example of a report that tries to be very broad-minded, challenging it's own assumptions, and attempts to discover it's unknown unknowns. It also casually throws in some philosophical references that one would not see in a NASA report (such as the claim that the human mind is not skilled at coming up with truly new ideas, or that the the definition of life requires looking at what "definition" means as much as "life.")

I've been writing up a project that involves a skit about aliens, and this report is inspirational.