Posted by Steve Busti
Although this latest claim would help solve Fermi’s paradox (which states that if there is such a high likelihood of intelligent life in the universe, where are all the aliens and why haven’t we been contacted yet), I just can’t believe that in all the infinite reaches of the universe we are utterly alone.
But what do you think? Are we really the only intelligent life forms in the universe? Read this story from Britain’s Daily Mail website and you decide.
*******************************************************************
Still waiting for little green men to make contact? Don’t hold your breath.
A leading astronomer has concluded there probably aren’t any aliens out there – meaning we are entirely alone in the universe.
Even though there may be tens of thousands of other distant planets similar in size to Earth, the conditions on them are likely to be too hostile to support life-forms such as ET.
Dr Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard University, believes there is very little hope of discovering aliens and, even if we did, it would be almost impossible to make contact.
So far astronomers have discovered a total of 500 planets in distant solar systems – known as extrasolar systems – although they believe billions of others exist.
But Dr Smith points out that many of these planets are either too close to their sun or too far away, meaning their surface temperatures are so extreme they could not support life.
Others have unusual orbits which cause vast temperature variations making it impossible for water to exist as a liquid – an essential element for life.
Dr Smith said: ‘We have found that most other planets and solar systems are wildly different from our own.
‘They are very hostile to life as we know it.’
‘The new information we are getting suggests we could effectively be alone in the universe.
‘There are very few solar systems or planets like ours. It means it is highly unlikely there are any planets with intelligent life close enough for us to make contact.’ But his controversial suggestions contradict other leading scientists – who have claimed aliens almost certainly exist.
Read the entire article at: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1349786/Despite-discovering-planets-chance-finding-aliens-unlikely.html#ixzz1BynSkKwU