Thursday, March 17, 2011

Not Just Little Green Men.

When someone mentions the word aliens the image that pops into most peoples heads is of little green men or some weird man eating creature.  Aliens have been cast in many movies and books as super intelligent advanced individuals zooming around the universe in their flying saucers.  in reality any life that we find on another planet is going to most similarly resemble simple single celled organisms such as bacteria that is found here on earth. 

Bacteria was the first life form on earth and is able to survive in extreme environments that no other life form could(Than).  With such a vast universe with billions of planets and stars the odds are that life exists beyond earth but scientist aren't really looking for little green men anymore.  Instead, they are looking for extremophiles,  or microbes that are able to live in extreme heat, cold, and in locations with little or no oxygen(Than).

Scientist are also to find more and more planets that might be able to support life.  They are able to see light years away and use satelights that are able to detect "life's spectral fingerprints" in planets reflecting light(than).  There is still hopes of finding an intelligent life source on some distant planet but with the universe being such a harsh and extreme place finding microbial life on another planet is a growing chance and a very real possibility.

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