WayneSmallman

Sadly for the Catholics as well as most other religions, any confirmation of alien life will have dire, irreconcilable theological consequences. The existence of alien life (intelligent or otherwise) is for me without question. No, this isn't a "belief" but a simple understanding of statistical probability, the cousin of random chance which is the very engine of the universe and of life itself, an anathema to all religion. Once the existence of life elsewhere has been confirmed, maybe then, as a species, we'll collectively get a grip and grow up.

From the page: "An explosion of knowledge has been made in the last few years about the basic biology of corals, researchers say in a new report, helping to explain why coral reefs around the world are collapsing and what it will take for them to survive a gauntlet of climate change and ocean acidification."

From the page: "You have to wonder about the wisdom of drilling an active volcano. But at Italy's Campi Flegrei, that's exactly what scientists are planning to do, in an effort to learn about an ancient volcanic monster that could one day blow again. "

From the page: "NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. "