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The field of astrobiology has made huge strides in understanding thehabitable zones around stars (Stellar Habitable Zones) where life can begin,sustain its existence and evolve into complex forms. A few studies haveextended this idea by modelling galactic-scale habitable zones (GalacticHabitable Zones) for our Milky Way and specific elliptical galaxies. However,estimating the habitability for galaxies spanning a wide range of physicalproperties has so far remained an outstanding issue. Here, we present a"cosmobiological" framework that allows us to sift through the entire galaxypopulation in the local Universe and answer the question "Which type of galaxyis most likely to host complex life in the cosmos"? Interestingly, the threekey astrophysical criteria governing habitability (total mass in stars, totalmetal mass and ongoing star formation rate) are found to be intricately linkedthrough the "fundamental metallicity relation" as shown by SDSS (Sloan DigitalSky Survey) observations of more than a hundred thousand galaxies in the localUniverse. Using this relation we show that metal-rich, shapeless giantelliptical galaxies at least twice as massive as the Milky Way (with a tenth ofits star formation rate) can potentially host ten thousand times as manyhabitable (earth-like) planets, making them the most probable "cradles of life"in the Universe.

The quest for cradles of life: using the fundamental metallicity relation to hunt for the most habitable type of galaxy