World affairs
There's no alien life in our universe
We are all alone in a great big universe, according to a professor from Harvard University.
It was David Bowie who asked 'Is there life on Mars?' back in the 70s. Well, according to a top Harvard professor, there is no chance of finding alien life anywhere in the universe.
Professor Howard Smith, a senior astro-physicist at the top American university, has analysed the 500 planets discovered so far in our universe. He's concluded that every single one of them is hostile to supporting life.
Professor Smith has suggested that the norm is for planets to have what we would consider to be extreme conditions and that life on Earth could well be unique.
Most planets have huge variations in temperature which would make it impossible for life as we know it to survive. There would be no 'liquid water' on such planets, a prerequisite for life.
The Harvard professor's report runs counter to the belief of genius boffin Stephen Hawking who last year said that extraterrestrials are almost certain to exist, adding that we should avoid contact with them.
500 planets is a miniscule sample group to take in something as large as the galaxy (never mind the universe).
Besides our planet detection methods so far have been fairly "simple" and have only detected really large planets that couldn't have life (as we know it) anyway. Only recently have we started detecting planets closer in size to Earth.