• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Scientists find strongest evidence yet of life on an alien planet

Aristaeus said:
Which is wrong since we can't prove that the chemical, if it even is that chemical, is caused by living organisms. So the status of earth as the only known planet to harbour life is not going to be about to change.
Click to expand...
Yup.

And man couldn’t fly not too long ago.

It’s one thing to go “Hmmm. Interesting. We’ll see how this pans out.”

And another to go “NuhUh!!!!”
 
Europe DOES indeed have life on it. Thank you, very much!
 
I recently read NASA learned that Proxima Centauri has an Earth like planet in its habitable zone, with a mass x1.1 & +10% gravity of Earth. Most telling is the atmosphere has oxygen and methane which indicates biological activity. Although, they did not conclude there is actual life. But it is an exciting prospect.
 
slavablueberryjam said:
It's relatively close to us, oddly enough.
Click to expand...
Close to us in the cosmic sense, yes, given the size of the universe. Close to us realistically, still no. 124 light years at the speed of light is.............124 years. One way. .248 years round trip. Which does not include running up to light speed (or more correctly 99.99% of light speed) and slowing back down on arrival. Not being a physicist I'm not sure of the time span in that case.
 
Link? I'd like to read about this.
 
The shortest distance to far off stars is through RFK Jr.s worm hole.

 
GIJane said:
Link? I'd like to read about this.
Click to expand...
Not sure i can find it now. It was from an article I happened to come across and it caught my eye. If I find it again, I'll post a link.
 
We really need warp drive. NASA or Space X needs to get on that.
 
This does not include Time Dilation- basically the faster the traveler goes the more time slows for the traveler. For instance if a ship travels at 50% of C (light speed) and travel 1 light year it would take the ship 2 years to get the target in ships time. In non-relativistic time that might be (don't know the exacts) 20 years.

As to Gordy's post. Not having the way to control matter/anti-matter is an issue. Warp drive is a Star Trek term, like Hyperdrive/space in Star Wars.

"The drive is actually based on scientific theory (though I'm not sure which came first; real-world theoretical physics or fictional FTL), and is known as the Alcubierre drive. The idea is that the drive creates a "bubble" in space-time enveloping the ship. The ship remains stationary within this bubble of space-time; the bubble itself is then pulled through surrounding space-time. As the ship remains technically at rest within the space-time continuum, and it's space itself that moves, Einsteinian special relativity isn't violated." Source:: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/14156/do-ships-at-warp-experience-time-dilation

Not sure I buy all of that, but the idea sounds plausible
 
The whole idea of gaining warp speed is stupid. Yes, someday the earth will die but it is a long way off. It is stupid to race to Mars because we don't have the technology to take advantage of anything we find there in terms of minerals. Add to the conflicting ideas of who shall be entitled to what should we discover something. Will we have Moon Wars and Mars Wars? Stupid waste of money while millions here starve.
 
Many say it is begging for disaster to seek out other races because they factor all things and come up with we will be destroyed if they find us.
 
I agree in principle to much of what you wrote. There are dozens of space programs that would be considered "next" on a logical list of things to pursue for purely scientific reasons, but a permanent presence on Mars wouldn't make the top 50.

rhinefire said:
Stupid waste of money while millions here starve.
Click to expand...
While that is often a fashionable observation to make, the two issues can never be conflated.
 
Ah well.

New Studies Dismiss Signs of Life on Distant Planet
 
Greenbeard said:
Ah well.
Click to expand...
It's not over yet. From your link:

"Last week, Dr. Madhusudhan and his colleagues responded to Dr. Welbanks’s team with a study of their own. They examined 650 possible molecules that might be in K2-18b’s atmosphere; dimethyl sulfide ended up among the molecules at the top of the list. “We’re exactly where we left off a month ago; it’s a good candidate,” Dr. Madhusudhan said.

Dr. Welbanks said that the new study by Dr. Madhusudhan simply provided more evidence that dimethyl sulfide does not stand out compared to other possible molecules on K2-18b. “In effect, this is a self-rebuttal,” he said.

It’s possible that the debate over K2-18b could be resolved within months. Last year Renyu Hu, an astronomer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and his colleagues made more near-infrared observations of the planet. They are now preparing their results. “It will include substantially more data than previously published,” Dr. Hu said.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…