• Question: As a scientist, what are your thoughts and feelings on the possibility of there being extra-terrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise, within reach of our own planet?

    Asked by rhooper821 to Ben, Dave, Ed, Sam, Susana on 18 Jun 2013. This question was also asked by reaganbrien, steeboii, njade.
    • Photo: Benjamin Hall

      Benjamin Hall answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      Our universe is unimaginably large, with an unimaginable number of glaxies, stars, solar systems and planets out there. I think it’s incredibly unlikely that we’re in this universe alone.

      Whether there’s intelligent life within reach of us? I don’t know. I don’t think so but that’s just pure speculation, I’m sure we’d have reached them or they’d have reached us by now.

    • Photo: Ed Lowe

      Ed Lowe answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      With so much Universe out there and more planets being discovered all the time I find it difficult to imagine that this is the one and only place where there’s life.

      Whether there is any life (intelligent or otherwise) within reach, though, is another matter. Everything else out there is so very far away it’s going to need an enormous leap for us to ever get out of the Solar system, never mind arriving anywhere else.

    • Photo: David Briggs

      David Briggs answered on 18 Jun 2013:

      I think that there has got to be life somewhere in the universe – whether it is within reach of us, I doubt it (at least with current technology).

      There is a famous equation called the Drake equation (google it!) that says the probability of life existing “out there” depends on how many planets there are, whether or not they are stable, the right temperature, whether or not water is present – stuff like that. The answer to the Drake equation is always more than 1!

    • Photo: Sam Horrell

      Sam Horrell answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      I really hope there is extra terrestrial life out there, espescially if it’s intelligent life. It’s a big universe out there, there must be something out there.

    • Photo: Susana Teixeira

      Susana Teixeira answered on 19 Jun 2013:

      I do believe there is extra-terrestrial life, but I do not think they are within reach of our planet with our current technology (perhaps they can reach us though, and that scares me a bit).

Comments