Article: Abundance of certain elements in Earth dictate whether plate tectonics can happen

New hypothesis: Earth's core and mantle needed a specific amount of radioactive elements, especially uranium, to warm the earth to allow plate tectonics. Plate tectonics is necessary for life on earth as it apparently stops the sort of runaway greenhouse effect of Venus.

While the article does not mention it, this would also add to the reasons we do not see evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the galaxy.

If the ranges of abundance of these radioactive elements needed to produce plate tectonics are relatively narrow, then it pushes down the probability of life elsewhere.