Evolution and Alien Life (Part 1)

<p style="margin:10px 0px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;color:#241e12;font-family:'system-ui', Roboto, sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-line;word-spacing:0px;background-color:#ffffff;">We have all probably wondered at some point if there is life in the universe outside of Earth. Our ability to land probes on distant worlds and send satellites outside our solar system, coupled with the over 5,000 exoplanets discovered since the early 2000s have inspired scientists to speculate more seriously about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. </p> <p style="margin:10px 0px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;color:#241e12;font-family:'system-ui', Roboto, sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-line;word-spacing:0px;background-color:#ffffff;">But even more fundamental than space probes, satellites and exoplanets in influencing many to consider the existence of life elsewhere in the cosmos is Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection in addition to the speculative field of abiogenesis (the study of the origin of life). If life arose and developed "naturally" here on Earth, apart from God creating life, then it is claimed, it seems reasonable to conclude, given the vastness of the cosmos itself, that life may have spontaneously arisen on many other planets. </p> <p style="margin:10px 0px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;color:#241e12;font-family:'system-ui', Roboto, sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:pre-line;word-spacing:0px;background-color:#ffffff;">But is the idea of alien life, especially intelligent alien life, really science or just science fiction? </p> <p style="margin:10px 0px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.5;color:#241e12;font-family:'system-ui', Roboto, sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-weight:400;letter-spacing:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white