concept

Carbon chauvinism

Astrobiology's reminder not to assume that all life everywhere must resemble Earth's - especially that it must be carbon-based - simply because that is the only example we know. The name is wryly self-mocking. The twist: carbon really is thermodynamically superior (bonds both stable and flexible enough, an oxide you can exhale), so some of the "bias" is earned. The skill is telling apart what chemistry genuinely forces from what is merely a habit of imagination.