Is the Universe Full of Life? (313)

In this University of Southern California program, Robert Kuhn hosts a group of distinguished panelists in a discussion of what may lie beyond our world. Humans have long wondered whether life exists beyond our home planet. In recent years, a host of new technologies are turning speculation into science. We now have the ability to discern the atmosphere of an extra-solar planet so distant we can't even see it, to detect the presence of dozens of new planets circling stars similar to our own sun. To top things off, recent discoveries of life in environments on Earth so extreme leads to the belief that it's not unreasonable to imagine that microbes -- or more -- may flourish elsewhere in the Universe. Panelists include: Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, Bruce Murray, professor of planetary science and geology at the California Institute of Technology and Shri Kulkarni, planetary astronomer at CalTech.

Category:

Education

[Mickayeel11]

To think we live in a society where people are more interested in Kim Kardashian’s wedding or which celebrity is dating who, rather than the potential of finding life in the universe. The men in this video should be on the front of magazines and newspapers not superficial celebrities.

[metalmilitia1977]

I wish I had just a fucking penny every time I visit a science page and it's tainted with ridiculous comments from religious trolls.

[manwithouthat44]

the other guys at the table seem a bit annoyed by neil degrasse tyson at times. so do I sometimes btw, he can get a bit cheesy. 

[Matzes]

its pretty late right now,I actually just came here to save this link to my bookmarks so that I can watch it tomorrow...but somehow I got hooked after a few seconds and couldn t stop :D

[fizk]

@Mickayeel11 I agree. You should start a new magazine! :-)

[Forehead2Brick]

TODAY!

[1extenderpro]

universe is full of god slave.

[dldodson123]

@Mickayeel11 The front page is is determined by people's interest. Sadly, most people are perfectly content with their current ideologies and don't want their ideas challenged. And, in addition, most people simply don't have the fundamental understanding of the sciences to have a fertile discussion of the topic. Or, perhaps they don't like the feeling of the ignorance of their concepts made apparent to them.

[mzedong001]

It is full of life. There are no lifeless regions in some universe to my knowledge.....

[Realityprogramming]

@WaitFor2012 True but its not infinite, it has boundaries so therefore life elsewhere is not a certainty. It is however very likely based on what we know about biology/chemistry/physics from our own planet.

[Realityprogramming]

@metalmilitia1977 Think of the matter in the universe (stars, galaxies etc) existing on the inside surface of a balloon as dots drawn by a marker pen. Now blow it up and you have the expanding universe. The dots move away from each other as the balloon expands but in relation to themselves do not change. So the space between your fingers is the same but your fingers are moving further away from the fingers of the guy in the next galaxy.

[Realityprogramming]

@googoo120 Yup - nobody in the field believes the universe is infinite any more.