WEBVTT

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In all of time

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on all the planets of

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all the galaxies in space

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what civilizations have risen,

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looked into the night

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seen what we see

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asked the questions that we ask?

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What we see around us

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is staggering complexity

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How is it possible?

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Living organisms are created by chemistry

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We are huge packages of chemicals

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And what are the ideal conditions for chemistry?

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Well, first, you need energy.

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But not too much.

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What you want is just the right amount

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and planets it turns out are just right

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because they are close to stars, but not too close

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You also need a great diversity of chemical elements.

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And you need liquid, such as water.

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Why?

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

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that they can't hitch up.

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In solids, atoms are stuck together

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they can’t move.

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In liquids,

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they can cruise and cuddle

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and link up to form molecules.

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liquid water is just so good

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for getting evolution going

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molecules can dissolve in the water,

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form more complex chains

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Now, where do you find such Goldilocks conditions?

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Well, planets are great

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and our early Earth was almost perfect

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It was just the right distance from its star

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to contain huge oceans of liquid water.

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And deep beneath those oceans,

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at cracks in the Earth's crust,

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fantastic chemistry began to happen

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and atoms combined in all sorts of exotic combinations.

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here, on our planet,

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microbes have adapted

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to survive the most hostile conditions.

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Arid deserts,

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the frozen Himalayas

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in trenches under thousands of tons of pressure

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in the ocean deeps.

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In the vacuum of a space simulator

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life forms have been flourishing for years

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without oxygen.

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Very very quickly,

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as soon as the Earth cooled off,

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after its formation, we know that life began here.

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Because it happened quickly here on Earth

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we think it's going to happen quickly

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on other planets as well.

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We know that the galaxy is awash in water,

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it’s awash in organic molecules,

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and complex chemistry.

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All of the things that we know

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were necessary for life to begin on this planet

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exist in abundance throughout the galaxy.

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Did something similar to what happened on our own planet

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happen on those other planets?

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There are more habitable Earth-mass planets

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in the observable volume of the universe

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than there are grains of sand

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on all the beaches on Earth.

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The discovery of just one bacteria on Mars,

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or any other body of the solar system,

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would indicate that the whole chain of evolutions

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cosmic, chemical, and biological

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is at work everywhere.

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In that case,

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the creation of life anywhere in the universe

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would be more the rule than the exception.

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Within all of our lifetimes we're going to understand

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

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We're going to understand the implications of that

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for evolution of life here on Earth.

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We're going to find planets around other stars

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that we can say we see potential signs of habitability

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in their atmospheres.

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

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How exciting is that?

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We're on the verge of things

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that people have wondered about for millennia:

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"Are we alone?"

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

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The Universe is nearly 14 billion years old,

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and our Galaxy is something like 12 billion years old.

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So there could be life out there

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that could be dramatically more advanced

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than the life that we have here on this planet.

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The only elements that were created in the Big Bang

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where hydrogen, helium and a little bit of lithium.

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All the stuff that makes your life livable -

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those elements weren't created in the Big Bang.

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The only place they're created

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is in the fiery core of a star

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and the only way for them to get into your body

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is if those stars were kind enough to explode.