The search for ET life goes on...and on...

Reading in The Star yesterday I came across and article where a Dr Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard University states a)That the chance of discovering alien life is remote and b) If we did, it would be almost impossible to make contact with them.
Smith states that of the 500 planets discovered outside our solar system, are either to close or to far away from their sun (thus too hot or cold to support life) or have unusual orbits, thus not allowing water to remain in a liquid form. (Water being essential for life as we understand it).
Based on this he say- 'The new information we are getting suggests we could effectively be alone in the universe.' He further goes on to say, 'There are very few solar systems or planets like ours. It means that is is highly unlikely that there are any planets with intelligent life close enough for us to make contact.'

How arrogant. So, in his assumptions, I guess unless we find life on a planet close to ours, it cannot be intelligent.

There are billions of galaxies in our universe and it really simplistic to assume that we are the only life around. Furthermore, seeking life only on what we understand is also very limiting. More and more organisms on earth have been found thriving in extreme conditions (High and low temperatures, without oxygen etc), thus it would seem pretty logical for the people who search for this extra terrestrial life, to broaden their parameters and definitions. There may just be intelligent life on a planet that is thick with helium and has temperatures close to zero degrees Celsius or lower. Shock and awe, they may not even need oxygen to survive as their body make up would be so different compared to us oxygen breathers.

Stephen Hawking and the late Carl Sagan both believed there was life on other planets. Both saw this as rational based on the size of the universe.

As for the contact with alien life is concerned, this is a bit more complicated. The chances of a two way conversation between planets would be remote, given the distance and our barrier of speed, being that below light speed.
However, there are some theories. One would be the much talked about wormholes, which would allow space travel over large distances in the blink of an eye. We could also assume that they are either more advanced that we are or may have a better understanding of the universe and it's laws, to know how to manipulate them for their own use. Even if they are the same age as humans, it would be safe to assume their growth took on a different road to ours and that they would know and have things we don't, as we would know and have things they don't.

Neither travel nor communication between two or more space civilizations would be conventional, that we can safely assume. But that does not mean that there are not other means. The same as discovering life on another planet or body, whether it be a single celled organism would be ground breaking. We need to break past our idea that to be intelligent one needs to be of humanoid build and to be alive one must breathe oxygen.  Rules on earth regarding life, may not apply elsewhere.

There may be alien astronomers looking at earth and saying it is too cold for life, besides, it has to much oxygen to support life anyway.

The other life

Since humans have been walking around this planet, we been facinated by the world beyond our atmosphere. Space and the stars allow us to dream and ponder and speculate. Advances in technology, has allowed us to peer deeper and deeper into space. We are able to see and study objects and non objects with greater knowledge and understanding than ever before. We have even established the existence of anti-matter.

Yet, the speculation of life 'out there' remains a big mystery. I am not going to go into a study of UFO's or government cover ups- we will leave that for another day. Nor will I delve into archeological finds that may, or may not, indicate space ships visiting earth. This, like the UFO and conspiracy theories, would take up an entire essay by themseleves and will be tackled in the future.

European astronomers have found a planet, Corot-7b, that they say is solid, like Earth. Apparently the first solid planet out of the more than 300 already discoved beyond the solar system. The rest comprise of gas it seems.

Small problem is this new planet is so close to the star around which it rotates, that it's annual orbit is a mere 20 hours. This means the temperature is around 1 980 degree celcius. It has a radius one and a half times that of Earth, with a mass five times that of our planet.

Now they are speculating the prospect of life on this remote planet, as they presume that life needs a solid surface to exist.

I see this as a very closed minded point of view. The universe is gigantic, to use a very weak word to describe it's size. It is also diverse. Scientists are looking for signs of organic life and thus, are searching worlds with parameters that would meet our understanding of an environment that would sustain life. I think they should look for life everywhere. We have a specific definition of life- but this definition may not meet the reality of extraterrestrail biological entities.

Just as we have, or even virus's and bacteria have, adapted to conditions around us, so could any other life forms. Biologosts and exo- biologists have established that simple bacteria can thrive in extreme conditions, for example, at the ridge of volcanos, in hot air vents under the sea, deep under ice sheets at the poles-Not all of these bactaria need oxygen to survive. There are bactaria living in our atmosphere, proving that life does not need a solid base on which to live.

Then surely it follows that life may exist on other planets, astroids, moons or even other bodies, including gaseous planets. This life will more than likely NOT meet our small definition of life. Perhaps there is intelligent life, looking down on earth, thinking life won't exist on that planet because there is too much oxygen.

Scientists should accept the fact that they do not know everything, that extraterrestrial life will probably be unlike what we expect. If we are looking for the classic aliens which regularly invade earth, we may be looking under the wrong rock. The first life forms we find will probably be simple bactaria like organisms, nothing wow or spectacular- but it will be life other than terrestrial life, and that not only will be massive, but will allow us to speculate the strong possibility of many more finds to come.

I am a strong believer in life elsewhere ,and I am sure, in time, it will be found.