Meet the Neighbors

Bravo to Benner, one of the world’s most accomplished chemists, for putting the possibility of extant Martian life back on the scientific agenda

Bravo to Benner, one of the world’s most accomplished chemists, for putting the possibility of extant Martian life back on the scientific agenda

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

Steven A. Benner is a pioneering chemist, synthetic biologist and storyteller whose career has taken him from Harvard to NASA, via ETH Zurich. Throughout he has helped reshape the modern definition of life and the search for it beyond Earth.
Founding Director and Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Benner helped found the fields of synthetic biology and paleogenetics. In 2023 he was awarded the Harold Urey Medal from the International Astrobiology Society for the study of the origin of life.