Explore Strange New Worlds.

http://www.examiner.com/article/kepler-space-telescope-discovers-461-new-exoplanet-candidates

I mentioned exoplanets in another post, and i'm sure the lot of you have followed these findings over the years, but Kepler has just been dominating the sky of late.

While it should be noted that these are candidate worlds not yet confirmed, needless to say that we live in exciting times.

Best,
Steve

It always seemed strange to me when people would question whether or not other stars had planets around them. Why would our solar system be unique in a universe with billions of galaxies, each with billions of stars? And now we're discovering that planets seem to be the norm around stars, especially stars that are similar to our sun.

To extend this just a bit to "sentient" life elsewhere in the universe....

Life on earth is carbon based. More molecules can be formed from carbon than by all of the other elements combined. So to me, it seems rather logical that life elsewhere in the universe to be carbon based.

Also, from a physiological perspective, it's reasonable to conclude that at least some of that life will resemble humans. As with most life on earth, our sensory organs are located in close proximity to "controlling" organ, the brain. Also, to interact with its environment, an organism needs at minimum of 2 appendages for mobility and 2 appendages for object manipulation. Of course, an organism can have 4 legs or 4 arms or more. But, 2 of each is an optimal number for efficient function. So while "life" on other planets will be strange, wonderful and terrifying, I also have no doubt that some of it will have many characteristics as humans.

Quote by kiddkasper

To extend this just a bit to "sentient" life elsewhere in the universe....

Life on earth is carbon based. More molecules can be formed from carbon than by all of the other elements combined. So to me, it seems rather logical that life elsewhere in the universe to be carbon based.

Also, from a physiological perspective, it's reasonable to conclude that at least some of that life will resemble humans. As with most life on earth, our sensory organs are located in close proximity to "controlling" organ, the brain. Also, to interact with its environment, an organism needs at minimum of 2 appendages for mobility and 2 appendages for object manipulation. Of course, an organism can have 4 legs or 4 arms or more. But, 2 of each is an optimal number for efficient function. So while "life" on other planets will be strange, wonderful and terrifying, I also have no doubt that some of it will have many characteristics as humans.

My view has always been that life elsewhere would be radically different, but you make a compelling argument.

Well, one only has to look at the variety of different species on Earth to get an idea of how varied life can be... and also how similar it can be, given that many species evolved separately but share a lot of similar traits. If the environment on another planet is the same as that of Earth, I don't think it's far-fetched to assume that life there might resemble what we have here. But, at the same time, given the diversity we have on one planet, it could also be very different.

Cephalization, Bilateral Symmetry, and Carbon based life are all indicative of higher lifeforms on Earth, but that's due to the unique properties of Earth. Other planets will have completely different environments that maybe better suited for different adaptions.

In aquatic environments, we've seen creatures that aren't bilaterally symmetrical. Silicon can bond to four other molecules and create chains just as Carbon can. I think once we really get out there, we'll be shocked at the diversity.

Quote by kiddkasper

Also, from a physiological perspective, it's reasonable to conclude that at least some of that life will resemble humans. As with most life on earth, our sensory organs are located in close proximity to "controlling" organ, the brain. Also, to interact with its environment, an organism needs at minimum of 2 appendages for mobility and 2 appendages for object manipulation. Of course, an organism can have 4 legs or 4 arms or more. But, 2 of each is an optimal number for efficient function. So while "life" on other planets will be strange, wonderful and terrifying, I also have no doubt that some of it will have many characteristics as humans.

Don't forget there is an intelligent organism with 4 ambulatory appendages and a single manipulation appendage. On the opposite end, there is another intelligent organism with 8 appendages that double for both ambulatory and manipulation. Not only that, 2/3 of the organism's neurons are found in the nerve cords of its appendages. If it weren't for this organism's rather insane breeding habits, well.. one never knows.. It might be able to take over. ;)

That said, there is no reason to assume that other organisms will even have fingers, much less be humanoid in appearance.

One never knows, they may have gone extinct hundreds of millions of years ago. The dinosaurs did, after all, and they were around a LOT longer than us. Billions of civilizations across the galaxy could have risen and fallen to extinction in that time. Alternatively, there could be planets with "dinosaurs" that never went extinct. Still roaming around, failing at the whole "brain" thing in favour of eating each other to death. :3