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.