Alien Life May Be Rare Across the Universe
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By Miriam Kramer | SPACE.com – 10 hrs ago
When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all.
A new theory presented at a conference this week would confirm the worry of Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster's character in the film "Contact," that life might not exist on other worlds.
Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there.
"The pervasive nature of life on Earth is leading us to make this assumption," Charles Cockell, the director of the U.K. Center for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement."On our planet, carbon leaches into most habitat space and provides energy for microorganisms to live. There are only a few vacant habitats that may persist for any length of time on Earth, but we cannot assume that this is the case on other planets."
Cockell's hypothesis states that, although habitable alien planets might abound in solar systems around the universe, it does not mean these locales harbor extraterrestrial life.
"It is dangerous to assume life is common across the universe. It encourages people to think that not finding signs of life is a 'failure,' when in fact it would tell us a lot about the origins of life," added Cockell.
It is also possible that scientists will not be able to detect alien signs of life, even if it exists, Cockell said. Life might be markedly dissimilar from planet to planet, making it unlikely that astronomers on Earth will see recognizable signatures of life. But not all hope is lost.
"Professor Cockell explains that in coming decades, increasingly powerful telescopes and developments in spectroscopy may allow us to look for the signals of life on planets beyond our solar system," officials from the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science, said in a statement."However, regardless of this, our view is still going to be heavily influenced by our knowledge of life on Earth."
http://news.yahoo.com/alien-life-may-rare-across-universe-205322738.html
When it comes to life across the cosmos, the universe might just be an "awful waste of space" after all.
A new theory presented at a conference this week would confirm the worry of Ellie Arroway, Jodie Foster's character in the film "Contact," that life might not exist on other worlds.
Some scientists think that just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there.
"The pervasive nature of life on Earth is leading us to make this assumption," Charles Cockell, the director of the U.K. Center for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh, said in a statement."On our planet, carbon leaches into most habitat space and provides energy for microorganisms to live. There are only a few vacant habitats that may persist for any length of time on Earth, but we cannot assume that this is the case on other planets."
Cockell's hypothesis states that, although habitable alien planets might abound in solar systems around the universe, it does not mean these locales harbor extraterrestrial life.
"It is dangerous to assume life is common across the universe. It encourages people to think that not finding signs of life is a 'failure,' when in fact it would tell us a lot about the origins of life," added Cockell.
It is also possible that scientists will not be able to detect alien signs of life, even if it exists, Cockell said. Life might be markedly dissimilar from planet to planet, making it unlikely that astronomers on Earth will see recognizable signatures of life. But not all hope is lost.
"Professor Cockell explains that in coming decades, increasingly powerful telescopes and developments in spectroscopy may allow us to look for the signals of life on planets beyond our solar system," officials from the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's national academy of science, said in a statement."However, regardless of this, our view is still going to be heavily influenced by our knowledge of life on Earth."
http://news.yahoo.com/alien-life-may-rare-across-universe-205322738.html
Comments
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It's probably impossible for there not to be life elsewhere statistically speaking. There are so many star systems and planets in the universe that no matter how strict the conditions for life might be there would have to be multiple other worlds that fulfill those conditions.
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False theory. There are thousands of sentient species. I met a few.
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Im sure there are many single celled organisms in the universe multi-cell thoroughly evolved organisms....I think there could be
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Black_Samson wrote: »Researchers in the United Kingdom have found algae-like fossils in meteorite fragments that landed in Sri Lanka last year. This is the strongest evidence yet of cometary panspermia — that life on Earth began when a meteorite containing simple organisms landed here, billions of years ago — and, perhaps more importantly, that there’s life elsewhere in the universe.
http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/150417-astrobiologists-discover-fossils-in-meteorite-fragments-confirming-extraterrestrial-life
no diss...
From the articleThere’s also the fact that the research was published in the Journal of Cosmology, a peer-reviewed journal that has come under critical scrutiny numerous times since it was established in 2009. The journal faced a lot of controversy when it published a paper by NASA engineer Richard Hoover claiming to have found fossils “similar to cyanobacteria” in meteorites.
Also, from the top commentHonestly Sebastian, do you have no shame at all? I mean, I know incredible headlines are good for hits, but do you not care about your website's reputation?
First of all, the rock is not deemed by peer scientists to be a meteorite, so it was not recorded in the international Meteoritical Society database. Scientists from both the Peradeniya University Geology Division and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies in Sri Lanka examined fragments of the alleged meteorite, and concluded that it is a terrestrial rock formed by lightning strikes (fulgurite). The silica and quartz bulk content confirms the terrestrial fulgurite explanation, further discards the meteorite hypothesis, as any silica in a meteorite would be present in trace amounts.
Second, on January 15 a diatom expert, Patrick Kociolek, wrote:
"There certainly is not any sign of this being fossilized material. (...) the diversity present in the images represent a wide range of evolutionary history, such that the 'source' of the diatoms from outer space, must have gone through the same evolutionary events as here on Earth. There are no extinct taxa found, only ones we would find living today. For me it is a clear case of contamination with freshwater."
Article writer's response
The beginning of the paper seems to deal with the fulgurite issue.
I have no idea, re: whether the fossils are 'real' or not. The evidence seemed OK to me.
I'm very eager to see what the rest of the scientific community thinks.
Response from another commenter following the writer's commentOld news. Still wrong. Please check stuff before publishing.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/03/11/meteorite_life_claims_of_fossils_in_a_meteorite_are_still_wrong.html -
Ajackson17 wrote: »False theory. There are thousands of sentient species. I met a few.
i'm intrigued tell us more. -
they don't know ? !
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