Chapter 30 Life in the Universe
30.0 Thinking Ahead
As we have learned more about the universe, we have naturally wondered whether there might be other forms of life out there. The ancient question, “Are we alone in the universe?” connects us to generations of humans before us. While in the past, this question was in the realm of philosophy or science fiction, today we have the means to seek an answer through scientific inquiry. In this chapter, we will consider how life began on Earth, whether the same processes could have led to life on other worlds, and how we might seek evidence of life elsewhere. This is the science of astrobiology.
The search for life on other planets is not the same as the search for intelligent life, which (if it exists) is surely much rarer. Learning more about the origin, evolution, and properties of life on Earth aids us in searching for evidence of all kinds of life beyond that on our planet.
One of the concepts you need is an appreciation of how old the universe it, and how old our solar system is. Two videos by the same artist, Kurtis Baute, help illustrate this. Kurtis used to work at Science World in British Columbia but in 2020 was earning his living making great science videos such as these.
Age of the universe in dominos. Make sure you watch the dinosaurs and the meteor collision.
Age of human history in a marathon