Life elsewhere: just add water (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, April 09, 2015, 01:46 (3305 days ago)

Water is everywhere in the universe. Water is necessary for life. Therefore life is everywhere! What an insipid line of reasoning:-http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/04/08/why-nasas-top-scientist-is-sure-that-well-find-signs-of-alien-life-in-the-next-decade/?wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1-"And in a new study published Wednesday in Nature, researchers announced the first-ever spotting of complex organic molecules -- the ones necessary for building amino acids and proteins -- in the planet-forming region of a young star system. This could mean that these building blocks are actually pretty common, and that many star systems have the capacity to seed life on their planets.-"'NASA science activities have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years that inspire us to continue investigating our origins and the fascinating possibilities for other worlds, and life, in the universe," Stofan said, according to NASA. "In our lifetime, we may very well finally answer whether we are alone in the solar system and beyond."-"Don't worry. She isn't really talking about the kind of alien life that might have haunted your nightmares or been featured in countless science-fiction movies.-"'We are not talking about little green men," Stofan said. "We are talking about little microbes.'"-And we have no idea how life started here. And how will they know the microbes are present?