Just a suggestion I thought I would post for the devs. I know they're super busy working on really cool stuff(road map was awesome) But I saw in one of the comments Dan said they're looking at doing simplistic life first and then reevaluating it. And I know that's probably a long way away but I suggest the devs have a look at Sim Earth and how it does life simulation for inspiration.
you can play it on the internet archive for free here
https://archive.org/details/win3_SIMEARTHIt also has some planet simulation features not in universe sandbox yet like Continental drift and weather.