Interesting science news today

It's looking good for life on Europa. Scientists found life in an Antarctic lake, beneath 60 feet of ice! No sunlight, no oxygen, no problem. Very cool. Europa (one of Jupiter's moons) may similarly harbor life below its ice sheets. It's not definite, of course. But this discovery bodes well for the possibility.

Another great story today reveals a likely method for life to have arisen on Earth from simple chemical processes.

I got a big lift from both of these stories. Of course life self-assembled from the ingredients that were available on the ancient Earth. We see self-assembly everywhere we look, including on the nano-scale. Life doesn't need a god to get started. So cheer up. It's looking good for the smart guys and bad for the fundies. Hooray!

A piece of the puzzle has been found

On physorg today, there's news about an amazing discovery. It confirms what scientists have been saying for some time: that Earth obtained its water through comet collisions. I confess I always doubted this idea. It just seemed impossible that the vast amount of water we see in our oceans could have been produced in this manner. But it seems more than possible now, given the new data.

Your chance to talk to aliens

There's an interesting article on physorg.com today. It's about the way we've been talking to aliens, and the way we should talk to them. "Scientists Suggest Protocol for Messaging to Aliens" is an article about the best methods for communicating with beings we know nothing about.

If you're interested, click on the article title in the previous paragraph. The best part is that we can play a role in devising the message that goes out to aliens. Here's a quote from the article:

“In the next few weeks, we will be collaborating with mathematicians and radio astronomers to come up with both the content and mode of communication of the message,” Atri said. “As suggested in the paper, it will not be anthropocentric like previous attempts. Once our collaboration comes up with a protocol, we will create an interactive website to test it globally. Anyone with internet access will be able to suggest his/her own message within the protocol guidelines based on scientific principles. We are also open to suggestions from both the scientific community and the general public for improvements in the protocol. It will be a community effort.”

NASA News

Last week NASA issued a news release.  Here is a direct quote from the release:

"The data tell us that our galaxy, with its roughly 200 billion stars, has at least 46 billion Earth-size planets, and that's not counting Earth-size planets that orbit farther away from their stars in the habitable zone."

46 billion Earths -- not in the whole universe but in our own Milky Way!   

With a number like that, it seems a statistical impossibility that we could be alone in the universe.  Not only are we not alone, we're probably one vanishingly small entry in a densely crowded field of life.

Alone?  Not by a long shot.