We know that life on Earth does very well with plentiful water and oxygen. We have oceans and a very friendly atmosphere for life here. But what if all the tables were turned and what if we had seas of Methane instead, what would our life look like? It certainly would not have anything similar to mammals running around and the vegetation would certainly look drastically different. This is a rather interesting topic and it became a rather large discussion recently in an online think tank when one member stated;

It is interesting to imagine a species that developed in a methane based environment, but is there a reason we should assume that such an setting would ever lead to life? It is possible that life itself is the result of very specific conditions. Maybe life would never evolve past a certain point? Certainly plants that evolve will look radically different and have very different chemical properties than those found on earth. These species, and the single celled organisms (which I have heard may exist even in deep space, nebulas and the like - a drifting 'spore cloud' of the seed of life, maybe?) are going to be the foundation of evolution.

Indeed there is life throughout the Universe and our own solar system and it maybe much different from much of the life we find here on Earth. And there also maybe some similarities as well to some of the life we find here. It makes sense for us to understand these facts as we explore what else is out there in the future. Consider this in 2006.