The "Medea Hypothesis" -Astrobiologist Argues that Life is Rare in Universe

"Medea Hypothesis" author Peter Ward argues that most of Earth's mass extinctions were caused by lowly bacteria. The culprit, a poison called hydrogen sulfide, may have an interesting application in medicine.

Earth's Mass Extinctions

Comments

[Gregorio]

Frankly, I think I would exercise a little more modesty about "life in the universe" claims when our sample size so far is exactly ONE planet. I recall several prominent astronomers stating rather authoritatively as recently as a few decades ago that "planetary systems around stars are probably very rare" and its corollary, "earth type planets are likely very rare". Since we are unable to even DETECT earth like systems, i.e. equivalent masses in habitable zones with atmospheres and water, etc., I suspect that jewel of a prediction will go along with the "planets are rare" idea. But I admit this is just a big a conjecture on my part. The truth is, we are just a bunch of dumb monkeys in a tiny patch of forest and we know almost NOTHING for sure other than we may burn ourselves up before we make it to the first clearing. Maybe life in the universe follows the same parameters as life on Earth, just as it appears galactic “dust” pretty reliably forms solar systems around suns. Let’s wait for some observational evidence before being so sure we are truly a “lonely planet”.