X-Message-Number: 13152
Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2000 20:25:21 -0800 (PST)
From: Doug Skrecky <>
Subject: Rare Earth

(a sobering reminder how precious life is)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
extropians-digest      Thursday, January 27 2000      Volume 05 : Number 027

From: 
Subject: >Rare Earth
  Source:   University Of Washington (http://www.washington.edu) 

We Are Not Alone - Or Are We? 
The annals of science fiction are filled with advanced extraterrestrial 
creatures like Klingons and Wookies, Vogons and Romulans, all carrying on in 
a human sort of way. And while screenwriters and novelists weave stories 
around these characters, some people scour the heavens for signs that such 
highly evolved beings really are out there. 
But a new book by two University of Washington scientists contends that, 
contrary to popular thought, we just might be alone and Earth might be 
unique, if not in the universe at least in this celestial neighborhood. 

In "Rare Earth," published this month by Copernicus Books/Springer, 
paleontologist Peter Ward and astronomer Donald Brownlee examine the 
remarkable confluence of conditions and events that deposited life-forming 
chemicals on Earth, allowed simple life to gain a foothold and then protected 
the planet sufficiently and created just the right environmental factors for 
advanced life to slowly evolve. 

"It seems like something a lot of people don't want to hear, yet nearly 
everyone who works in these areas has remarked at one time or another how 
unusual the Earth is," said Brownlee, an expert on comets, the space bodies 
that might have delivered the first organic chemicals and life-sustaining 
water to Earth. 

In fact, he and Ward, whose extensive research on the fossil record has 
provided key insights into prehistoric mass extinctions, frequently discuss 
the Earth's unusual character with students in their astronomy and geological 
sciences classes. 

The scientists don't argue that life is rare. In fact, recent evidence 
showing simple microbial life can survive extreme conditions on Earth is an 
indicator that such life also might be widespread in the galaxy and the 
universe. 

"But you need to have a vast amount of time to let evolution ramp up to 
animals, and we think there are only a small number of planets where that 
could happen," said Ward. 

The key, he said, is having near equilibrium in such things as temperature 
and water content over enormous time spans. 

Microbes have shown they can live in some of the harshest Earth environments 
imaginable, while advanced plant and animal life requires a delicate balance 
of conditions. 

"For 90 percent of the age of this planet, life was slime at the bottom of 
the ocean," Brownlee said. But that life was given a one-in-a-million 
opportunity to gradually evolve to the complexity it enjoys today. 

"The underlying theme of the book is that the Earth is a very charmed 
planet," he said. "We know of no other body that is even remotely like 
Earth." 

Factors that made advanced life possible include the Earth's having: 

* The proper distance from the sun to allow development of habitat for 
complex life and ensure that water remains liquid, not vapor or ice. 

* The proper mass to retain atmosphere and ocean. 

* Plate tectonics, which act as a sort of atmospheric thermostat, build land 
masses and enhance biotic diversity. 

* A neighbor the size of Jupiter, not too close and not too far away, that 
can use its gravity to protect the planet from too many life-extinguishing 
collisions with comets and asteroids. 

* A stable orbit unperturbed by giant planets. 

* A large moon at the right distance to stabilize tilt, thus ensuring 
seasonal climate fluctuations that are not too severe. 

* Enough carbon to support development of life but not so much to allow for 
runaway greenhouse conditions. 

In addition, Brownlee and Ward contend, the solar system's position in the 
Milky Way galaxy also is key to life development on Earth. At the edge of the 
galaxy, many stars are too metal-poor for planet formation, while the center 
of the galaxy has extreme energy processes that would hinder complex life. 

The "charmed" conditions on Earth won't always be present. Someday, some way, 
evolution on Earth will end. That could be when the sun gets so hot that life 
can no longer survive, when ultimately the ocean boils and surface rocks 
melt. 

"There will be a time when there will be no record of life ever having 
existed on Earth," Brownlee said. 

He and Ward acknowledge that their assumptions about how uncommon advanced 
life might be in the universe are based on observed conditions that allowed 
evolution on Earth. But this is the only place in which advanced life is 
known to have occurred, and it is one of only a handful of places in the 
solar system where even microbial life is suspected, making this planet the 
ultimate laboratory on advanced life. 

A key condition for life on Earth is the presence of carbon, because of its 
unique properties. 

"Probably all life is based on carbon," Brownlee said. While he concedes the 
possibility that life has evolved elsewhere based on an element such as 
silicon, he remains skeptical of that theory. 

"Many things are possible. You can never imagine everything the universe can 
do. But we know it didn't happen here," Brownlee said. "If things have to 
obey physical and chemical laws, then there really aren't a lot of options in 
nature." 

Editor's Note: The original news release can be found at 
http://www.washington.edu/newsroom/news/2000archive/01-00archive/k011800.html 
 
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University Of 
Washington for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to 
quote from any part of this story, please credit University Of Washington as 
the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any 
citation: 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/01/000126080531.htm
 
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