Now, imagine that lifeforms are scattered across these moons and planets, uncommon in any one galaxy perhaps, but numerous over the vast expanse of the universe. A team of intergalactic scientists has been working diligently for centuries, characterising the
different forms of life and their unique properties and, more importantly, what they share. They might all use a certain type of molecule, for instance, or share a definitive process like Darwinian evolution.