abiotic
ay-BY-ah-tik
Definition
Not involving or produced by living organisms; occurring in nature without the influence of biological processes.
Etymology
Derived from the Greek prefix 'a-' meaning 'without,' 'bios' meaning 'life,' and the suffix '-tic.' It was coined in the late 19th century to describe the non-living components of an ecosystem.
In the news
The article notes that Cassini's data cannot distinguish between biological processes and abiotic ones, meaning the detected chemicals could have formed naturally without life.
Enceladus sprays water, phosphates, molecular hydrogen and complex organics straight out of its buried ocean — and a 2025 analysis found previously unseen organic compounds in freshly ejected ice, adding still more steps to the chemical pathways that c
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