On the Europa/radiation thread I started, someone brought up the fact that radiation might actally be part of a possible life cycle inside the icy moon. I thought about this some more, and I came up with the idea for this particular thread.

And this subject most likely has been discussed here, but just in case...

How would one go about defining what life is on another planet? Keep in mind that there is the danger of allowing ourselves to define life based solely on what we've been exposed to on Earth. It is a vast Universe, and to use the Earth as the definitive example of what to look for in regards to life might be rather limiting.

What are the suitable criteria to start off with, and where should we see about thinking beyond the box?

:-k