In all of time

on all the planets of

all the galaxies in space

what civilizations have risen,

looked into the night

seen what we see

asked the questions that we ask?

What we see around us

is staggering complexity

How is it possible?

Living organisms are created by chemistry

We are huge packages of chemicals

And what are the ideal conditions for chemistry?

Well, first, you need energy.

But not too much.

What you want is just the right amount

and planets it turns out are just right

because they are close to stars, but not too close

You also need a great diversity of chemical elements.

And you need liquid, such as water.

Why?

Well, is gases, atoms move past each other so fast

that they can't hitch up.

In solids, atoms are stuck together

they can’t move.

In liquids,

they can cruise and cuddle

and link up to form molecules.

liquid water is just so good

for getting evolution going

molecules can dissolve in the water,

form more complex chains

Now, where do you find such Goldilocks conditions?

Well, planets are great

and our early Earth was almost perfect

It was just the right distance from its star

to contain huge oceans of liquid water.

And deep beneath those oceans,

at cracks in the Earth's crust,

fantastic chemistry began to happen

and atoms combined in all sorts of exotic combinations.

here, on our planet,

microbes have adapted

to survive the most hostile conditions.

Arid deserts,

the frozen Himalayas

in trenches under thousands of tons of pressure

in the ocean deeps.

In the vacuum of a space simulator

life forms have been flourishing for years

without oxygen.

Very very quickly,

as soon as the Earth cooled off,

after its formation, we know that life began here.

Because it happened quickly here on Earth

we think it's going to happen quickly

on other planets as well.

We know that the galaxy is awash in water,

it’s awash in organic molecules,

and complex chemistry.

All of the things that we know

were necessary for life to begin on this planet

exist in abundance throughout the galaxy.

Did something similar to what happened on our own planet

happen on those other planets?

There are more habitable Earth-mass planets

in the observable volume of the universe

than there are grains of sand

on all the beaches on Earth.

The discovery of just one bacteria on Mars,

or any other body of the solar system,

would indicate that the whole chain of evolutions

cosmic, chemical, and biological

is at work everywhere.

In that case,

the creation of life anywhere in the universe

would be more the rule than the exception.

Within all of our lifetimes we're going to understand

that there is life on other bodies in the solar system.

We're going to understand the implications of that

for evolution of life here on Earth.

We're going to find planets around other stars

that we can say we see potential signs of habitability

in their atmospheres.

That's all going to happen in the next 10 to 20 years

How exciting is that?

We're on the verge of things

that people have wondered about for millennia:

"Are we alone?"

And here we are on the verge of finding that out.

The Universe is nearly 14 billion years old,

and our Galaxy is something like 12 billion years old.

So there could be life out there

that could be dramatically more advanced

than the life that we have here on this planet.

The only elements that were created in the Big Bang

where hydrogen, helium and a little bit of lithium.

All the stuff that makes your life livable -

those elements weren't created in the Big Bang.

The only place they're created

is in the fiery core of a star

and the only way for them to get into your body

is if those stars were kind enough to explode.