Editing Biosphere (section)

=== Overview ===
Currently, the total number of [[Cell (biology)|living cells]] on the Earth is estimated to be 10<sup>30</sup>; the total number since the beginning of Earth, as 10<sup>40</sup>, and the total number for the entire time of a [[Planetary habitability|habitable planet Earth]] as 10<sup>41</sup>.<ref name="NYT-20231201">{{cite news|last=Overbye|first=Dennis|author-link=Dennis Overbye|title=Exactly How Much Life Is on Earth? – According to a new study, living cells outnumber stars in the universe, highlighting the deep, underrated link between geophysics and biology.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/science/space/earth-biology-life.html|date=1 December 2023|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231201065236/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/science/space/earth-biology-life.html|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="CB-20231106">{{cite journal|author=Crockford, Peter W.|display-authors=et al.|title=The geologic history of primary productivity|url=https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)01286-1|date=6 November 2023|journal=[[Current Biology]]|volume=33|issue=21|pages=P7741–4750.E5|doi=10.1016/j.cub.2023.09.040|pmid=37827153|bibcode=2023CBio...33E4741C|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231201131033/https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)01286-1|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> This is much larger than the total number of estimated stars (and Earth-like planets) in the observable universe as 10<sup>24</sup>, a number which is more than all the grains of beach sand on planet Earth;<ref name="ESA-2020">{{cite web|author=Staff|title=How many stars are there in the Universe?|url=https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe|date=2020|work=[[European Space Agency]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200117184622/https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Herschel/How_many_stars_are_there_in_the_Universe|archive-date=17 January 2020|access-date=January 17, 2020}}</ref><ref name="SWIN-20020201">{{cite web|last=Mackie|first=Glen|title=To see the Universe in a Grain of Taranaki Sand|url=https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html|date=1 February 2002|work=[[Swinburne University of Technology]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20221228121404/https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/billions.html|archive-date=28 December 2022|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="CNET-20150319">{{cite news|last=Mack|first=Eric|title=There may be more Earth-like planets than grains of sand on all our beaches – New research contends that the Milky Way alone is flush with billions of potentially habitable planets -- and that's just one sliver of the universe.|url=https://www.cnet.com/science/the-milky-way-is-flush-with-habitable-planets-study-says/|date=19 March 2015|work=[[CNET]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231201144523/https://www.cnet.com/science/the-milky-way-is-flush-with-habitable-planets-study-says/|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref><ref name="MNRAS-20150313">{{cite journal|last1=T. Bovaird|first1=T.|last2=Lineweaver|first2=C.H.|last3=Jacobsen|first3=S.K.|title=Using the inclinations of Kepler systems to prioritize new Titius–Bode-based exoplanet predictions|url=https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/448/4/3608/970734|date=13 March 2015|journal=[[Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society]]|volume=448|issue=4|pages=3608–3627|doi=10.1093/mnras/stv221|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231201151205/https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/448/4/3608/970734|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=1 December 2023|doi-access=free|arxiv=1412.6230}}</ref> but less than the total number of atoms estimated in the observable universe as 10<sup>82</sup>;<ref name="LS-20210711">{{cite news|last=Baker|first=Harry|title=How many atoms are in the observable universe?|url=https://www.livescience.com/how-many-atoms-in-universe.html|date=11 July 2021|work=[[Live Science]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20231201143640/https://www.livescience.com/how-many-atoms-in-universe.html|archive-date=1 December 2023|access-date=1 December 2023}}</ref> and the estimated total number of stars in an [[Inflation (cosmology)|inflationary universe]] (observed and unobserved), as 10<sup>100</sup>.<ref name="SR-20200203">{{cite journal|last=Totani|first=Tomonori|title=Emergence of life in an inflationary universe|date=3 February 2020|journal=[[Scientific Reports]]|volume=10|number=1671|page=1671|doi=10.1038/s41598-020-58060-0|doi-access=free|pmid=32015390|pmc=6997386|arxiv=1911.08092|bibcode=2020NatSR..10.1671T}}</ref>