Hi,

I grew up watching re-runs of Star Trek on TV and I enjoy reading science fiction novels about people exploring other planets. I'd like to think that we are not all alone in the universe and that someday we will discover life on another planet. Unfortunately, I do not think this will happen for a very long time. However, there are many scientists who are looking for evidence of life elsewhere in the universe. This field of study is now called astrobiology. You can learn more about different astrobiologists and how they are looking for life on other planets here:

http://www.exploratorium....bo/people/index.html

Kris

Hello, I personally have no doubt about it. Whether that life is "intelligent" is a little more dificult to answer. NASA is on a path to look for signs of life on, hopefully earth-like , planets around other stars with a series of missions (Kepler, SIM PlanetQuest, and the Terrestrial Planet Finder).

Cheers - David

Sure, they are out there. I doubt they've had the opportunity to visit us here (despite reports to the contrary!) but perhaps they've detected life on Earth by observing the water vapor bands, and perhaps even seen evidence for ozone in the water vapor window. Can we look back and find them? The search is on! Once great candidate is Sco 18. Sometimes called a "solar twin," Sco18 is a 6th magnitude star in the constellation Scorpius. Google it, and find pages like this one:

http://www.daviddarling.i...dia/A/18Scorpii.html

Could this solar twin star have an orbiting "Earth twin"? Might there be a twin of you or me (except for the pointy ears ;-) looking back in the telescope and wondering? It may become a testable hypothesis during your lifetime!

.Bob.