Monday, January 8, 2024

I wonder

 

why this guy isn't a 

Media Personality

like some others in his field?



The answer is pretty obvious.


Exoplanet discoveries 

reveal Earth's profound rarity in the cosmos


Marcelo Gleiser is a professor of natural philosophy, physics, and astronomy at Dartmouth College. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a recipient of the Presidential Faculty Fellows Award from the White House and NSF, and was awarded the 2019 Templeton Prize. Gleiser has authored five books and is the co-founder of 13.8, where he writes about science and culture with physicist Adam Frank.


"We are now well into a new era of astronomy, where distant planets (called exoplanets) are being detected at a fast clip. At last count, there have been 5,557 confirmed discoveries of exoplanets and another 10,000 candidates awaiting confirmation. These discoveries have given rise to “comparative planetology,” a new area of astronomy dedicated to investigating the properties of different worlds, classifying them according to size, mass, (approximate) atmospheric composition, distance from their parent star, and whether they are rocky, gaseous, or some combination of the two."


"An M-type dwarf star (or red dwarf star) is the smallest and coolest star, the most common in the Milky Way. Around three-quarters of the stars in our galaxy are M-type dwarf stars. In comparison, our Sun is a yellow dwarf star, about five times more massive than a red dwarf. Only about 3% of stars are yellow dwarfs like our Sun."

(That's what you don't get told, right there.)


"Finding a planet orbiting another star is much harder than finding a flea in front of a floodlight. To detect them, astronomers capture the ever-so-slight dimming of starlight as a planet passes in front of a star. This is called planetary transit. Imagine measuring the dimming of a floodlight as a flea hops over it. Now, move the floodlight incredibly far away — so far as to look like a point source. With this image, you begin to get an idea of how delicate and spectacular the discovery of exoplanets is."


"So, it all boils down to one of the most exciting questions we can ask in science — the one kids from ages five to 90 ask across all cultures on our planet: Are we alone in the Universe? Studying other worlds — their history, location, and properties — allows us to figure out our own history, and how exceptional (or not) it is. We live in this very special time when we can actually begin to answer this question. 

And it all points to our planet being a rare gem in a Universe that is very hostile to life."

(Theres your sign. Its also why he is not such a media personality as others in his field. He's not saying what the gatekeepers want you to hear.)


"We are still far from knowing whether other worlds harbor life of any kind. Clearly, given that there are so many worlds out there (trillions in our galaxy alone), and that the laws of physics and chemistry are the same across the Universe (this we do know with confidence), the expectation from a large fraction of scientists is: Yes, there should be other worlds with life. Otherwise, as Jodie Foster’s character in the movie Contact (based on Carl Sagan’s homonymous novel) said, “[It] seems like an awful waste of space.”


"But life is not so simple as large numbers. There is a disconnect between the way physical scientists and biologists think about this question. (Of course, there are exceptions in both groups.) Biologists tend to be more careful with such extrapolations, knowing only too well that life is enormously complex. There are many truly mind-boggling steps to go from non-life to the first living creatures, and then on to complex unicellular life and multicellular creatures. What’s more, life doesn’t have a plan to get more complex over time; life cares about reproducing efficiently. If species are well-adapted, mutations won’t do much. Ultimately, the question of how life did emerge on Earth remains very much open."


("There are 

many truly mind-boggling steps 

(so many as to be fanciful)

to go from non-life 

to the first living creatures, 

and then on to complex unicellular life 

and multicellular creatures."


Theres your sign.

Nobody who has ever lived 

has ever seen 

life coming from non-life.

Everything everybody 

who has ever lived 

as ever seen is this:

LIFE COMES FROM LIFE.

And, I might add

with all these proteins 

and amino acids

on all these asteroids 

and  meteorites

and comets and everything else?

Hitting the earth and all the 

Exoplantes with regularity?

Why haven't new forms of life 

from non-life arisen here for us to see?

Answer is pretty simple.

Life always comes from Life.

Your creator is a living entity.

Period.

Dear Ethan:

"Biologists tend to be more careful with such extrapolations"

I don't go to a plumber to get my beard trimmed.

and I don't listen to Cosmologist

about how life came from nonlife either.

and neither should anybody else.


Listen to the evolutionary molecular biologist 

who each and every one will tell you 

(if they are intellectual honest with themselves)

the information in the DNA molecule

got there by means outside the known laws of physics.

That's outside natural laws.

By definition then, as far as we know right now, 

that means the information got there by

SUPERNATURAL

means.)


I wonder what that could be?


I got a theory :-).

It's got more observational truth 

than life coming from non-life,

sure does.





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