Do you believe in other life in the Universe?

[jamil]

Nope. Pedophiles.

https://www.ktsm.com/news/local/el-...osure-according-to-court-documents/1460386237

Beat me by a minute. Just saw that on twitter.

 

[actaeon277]

Well... they could just "say" it's child porn to shut it down.

Though I think that would be silly.
If it "saw" something.. someone else could see the same thing. There are other observatories.
Also.. if it was "aliens" approaching, well it would be hard to cover it up when they get here.

 

[T.Lex]

More variability in planets - and planet creation - than we'd thought.

https://www.space.com/42147-alien-solar-system-four-huge-exoplanets.html

Indeed, it's unclear how the two outermost planets were able to take shape.

 

[Alpo]

[video=youtube_share;Fto2HTtnz6g]http://youtu.be/Fto2HTtnz6g[/video]

 

[KLB]

More variability in planets - and planet creation - than we'd thought.

https://www.space.com/42147-alien-solar-system-four-huge-exoplanets.html

Just shows the big issue with what we think we know. We have a models based upon our limited knowledge of things and people act like they represent truth.

 

[actaeon277]

Just shows the big issue with what we think we know. We have a models based upon our limited knowledge of things and people act like they represent truth.

Well, every generation thinks they are the pinnacle of society.

 

[natdscott]

And every religion thinks they have the ultimate Truth...as little as zilch of it may be correct, and as much as all-and-then-some.

Hard to see the warehouse when you're stuck in your own matchbox.

 

[Alpo]

The difference I see is that religion is the answer.

Science is the possibility.

 

[nipprdog]

Hard to see the warehouse when you're stuck in your own matchbox.

 

[KLB]

The difference I see is that religion is the answer.

Science is the possibility.

For the most part. For some science is the answer as well these days.

 

[Birds Away]

Do you believe in other life in the Universe?

Yes, every time I turn on CNN/MSNBC.

 

[jamil]

Well, every generation thinks they are the pinnacle of society.

To young people, the old ways are bad because they're not new. To old people, new ways are bad because they're different.

 

[femurphy77]

To young people, the old ways are bad because they're not new. To old people, new ways are bad because they're different.

This is why it's easier to hate everything and everybody!

 

[Alpo]

[video=youtube_share;LOJ1XmbSKhM]http://youtu.be/LOJ1XmbSKhM[/video]

One of the things that I hadn't thought about much is how narrow the field of view was for Kepler. Pretty much an ice cream cone view whereas Gaia is likely to give us much better data.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Scientists say mysterious 'Oumuamua' object could be an alien spacecraft

The mysterious object "may be a fully operational probe sent intentionally to Earth vicinity by an alien civilization," Harvard researchers say.

Harvard researchers need to put down the crack pipe

 

[rvb]

Scientists say mysterious 'Oumuamua' object could be an alien spacecraft



Harvard researchers need to put down the crack pipe

Even the SETI guys called them idiots.....

 

[ATOMonkey]

If there is life, then it was also created.

Our planet is an anomaly in a solar system is an anomaly in a galaxy that is an anomaly.

Just having a rock a certain distance from a star is just a starting point. The star needs to be in a spiral galaxy, and away from the arms in that galaxy. The star must be old and also must have gone through several super-nova phases in order to have fused together heavy enough elements to create the proper planets. The planet also needs to be shielded from debris, by other planets, and has to have a certain number of moons in order to stabilize rotation.

That just to get it to fly in circles properly, and that's the easy part.

Creating complex life from elemental matter is something no one has any idea about. We can speculate about random acids forming more complex organic compounds, but that is all just guess work and wishful thinking. No one has been able to make anything happen out of amino acid soup.

Then consider that you do get random organic compounds, how do they randomly organize themselves into something as complicated as DNA? And how does that randomly create life?

 

[T.Lex]

Then consider that you do get random organic compounds, how do they randomly organize themselves into something as complicated as DNA? And how does that randomly create life?

Given enough time, and enough iterations, there's a statistical chance. The question is whether there has been enough time, and enough iterative cycles.

I think.

 

[Alpo]

Funny thing though. I've been watching a few lectures on proteins. I'm not in any sense knowledgeable in biology, but it seems that proteins need to fold in just the right way for their polarities along the protein chain to function properly. The interesting part of the most recent lecture I saw was that when the protein chain is immersed in H20, the proteins will assume/revert to the form necessary for function, repeatedly. It happens every time and is not dependent on initial conditions. What I took away from the lecture was the importance of liquid water to life.

 

[T.Lex]

Funny thing though. I've been watching a few lectures on proteins. I'm not in any sense knowledgeable in biology, but it seems that proteins need to fold in just the right way for their polarities along the protein chain to function properly. The interesting part of the most recent lecture I saw was that when the protein chain is immersed in H20, the proteins will assume/revert to the form necessary for function, repeatedly. It happens every time and is not dependent on initial conditions. What I took away from the lecture was the importance of liquid water to life.

... importance of liquid water to life as we know it. We can only really study what exists here.

There are mechanisms that may offer alternatives. Ammonia, for example, could share some of the life-generative properties of water, but with different atmospheric conditions.