Jupiter or Mars-like planets beyond our Solar System may be serious contenders for harbouring life, says a British astrophysicist. Professor Tim Naylor, of Exeter University, says planets that do not resemble home should not be dismissed. He is calling on biologists to draw up new parameters for extra-terrestrial life based on a knowledge of the toughest organisms on Earth. Microbes which thrive in boiling hot springs or in volcanic vents are stretching the limits of conditions that can support life. According to Professor Naylor, it boosts the chances of finding life on non Earth-like planets circling stars other than our Sun. International experts are meeting this week at Exeter University in the south-west of England to discuss just what type of conditions really are necessary for life on other worlds. It could lead to a search for life on the growing list of so-called extrasolar planets that have been discovered.

Many of these 100 or so planets are huge gaseous objects close to their stars which, to a large extent, have been ignored as serious contenders favourable to living organisms.

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