THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE
A report published in 2002 puts the odds for extraterrestrial life on planets similar to Earth at 1 in 3. However, scientists cannot find any hints of what extraterrestrial life might look like. Over 100 top scientists including chemists, biologists and astronomers met around that time, and they came to the conclusion that they did not know how even the simplest life begins.
“Nobody understands the origin of life,” said Ken Nealson, a geobiologist at the University of Southern California. “If they say thay do, they are probably trying to fool you.”
Not only do scientists not know how life begins, they don’t even know how they can search for it. Britt asserts that the odds are that the extraterrestrial life we first discover will be microbial. Life on Earth took billions of years to evolve and the creatures that would survive the various harsh conditions out there would be very simple creatures. Britt claims, “Astrobiology is first and foremost a search for the scum of the universe.”
I personally find his characterization of life to be distasteful. Life is not the “scum of the universe.”
On Earth certain microscopic bacteria are discovered to endure far harsher conditions than we would have imagined two decades age. Ken Nealson claims that “Life hides under rocks. Life hides in the rocks.” He also claims that life forms have evolved to eat and breathe rocks alone. We are constantly discovering new methods of survival. This suggests that on other planets there may be countless different mechanisms of survival. I learned all the information I just described from an article by Robert Roy Britt, a writer for the website of SPACE.
A report published in 2002 puts the odds for extraterrestrial life on planets similar to Earth at 1 in 3. However, scientists cannot find any hints of what extraterrestrial life might look like. Over 100 top scientists including chemists, biologists and astronomers met around that time, and they came to the conclusion that they did not know how even the simplest life begins.
“Nobody understands the origin of life,” said Ken Nealson, a geobiologist at the University of Southern California. “If they say thay do, they are probably trying to fool you.”
Not only do scientists not know how life begins, they don’t even know how they can search for it. Britt asserts that the odds are that the extraterrestrial life we first discover will be microbial. Life on Earth took billions of years to evolve and the creatures that would survive the various harsh conditions out there would be very simple creatures. Britt claims, “Astrobiology is first and foremost a search for the scum of the universe.”
I personally find his characterization of life to be distasteful. Life is not the “scum of the universe.”
On Earth certain microscopic bacteria are discovered to endure far harsher conditions than we would have imagined two decades age. Ken Nealson claims that “Life hides under rocks. Life hides in the rocks.” He also claims that life forms have evolved to eat and breathe rocks alone. We are constantly discovering new methods of survival. This suggests that on other planets there may be countless different mechanisms of survival. I learned all the information I just described from an article by Robert Roy Britt, a writer for the website of SPACE.
posted by Caroline at 9:01 PM
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