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LIFE FORMS IN OTHER PLANETS? According to the Astrobiology Roadmap, a planet or planetary satellite is habitable if it can sustain life that originates there or if it sustains life that is carried to the object. The Astrobiology program seeks to expand our understanding of the most fundamental environmental requirements for habitability. There are requirements for habitability according to this website. It states that for living things to live, there must be regions of liquid water.
This is an essential condition that must be favorable for complex organic molecules and energy sources to sustain metabolism. Living things need to have an environment where there is an exchange of materials useful for them to live and inhabit (Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe). Researches state that it should be possible to determine whether terrestrial planets are possible or if they are habitable. There are signs though, that needs to be present as well as changes in the planet that must be identifiable in order to make any conclusions. The presence of liquid water is one very important sign on this issue. Water is necessary to the dynamic properties of any environment that will allow convection essential to life since it creates local chemical dis equilibria that is a necessary ingredient for the energy for life.
What are the implications of this issue though? When it comes to issues such as the development of life, it is essential to present all facts and possibilities so as to keep an open mind. It should be acceptable for the scientific community to adopt intelligent design in the biology studies as long as proponents of the idea would present evidence following the scientific model. The Catholic Church has learned its lesson well when it became wary of overstepping on the domains of science.
Not only once was the church proven wrong when it presented truths without enough scientific backing. The aim of science education is to find facts through empirical evidence. The emergence of life on earth remains a puzzle to most people, and although the theory of evolution is the closest to the truth, there are still doubts and questions as to its validity. Intelligent design could easily answer the questions relating to the emergence of life, but the issue should center on whether the arguments are supported by hard scientific evidence and not by sheer assumption of impossibility.
The incorporation of intelligent design into the science curriculum continues to be a subject of debate among scientists, educators and parents. Most recently, the Kansas State Board has approved the teaching of intelligent design along with evolution in explaining how life started on earth (Sullivan). Proponents of intelligent design are determined to continue with their efforts to contradict the theory of evolution, stating that life is too complex for it to have happened through evolution. Not all religious groups are supportive of the move towards incorporating intelligent design into biology classes. How could such a discovery change our definition of what it means to be alive? If these life forms could exist in extreme conditions, then, probably, man can devise means of carrying these life forms on earth and making them live here.
In that case, our definition of what it means to be alive can be altered. Implied here would be the possibility of man devising a way to study these life forms in the environment they are in if man would be able to duplicate such conditions and arm himself with the tools to do the research. Or he can even live there and perhaps it can be feasible for explorations to be done there and make it chic to visit the place every now and then. Of course, this can only be possible for the super rich who may be the only ones capable of embarking on such explorations in these environments. While proponents of intelligent design present compelling arguments against the evolution theory, the fact remains that most of the arguments appear philosophical rather than scientific. Barbara Forrest, for one, thinks that supporters of the intelligent design concept invest most of their efforts in swaying politicians and the public, not the scientific community (Sherriff) She added that although the scientists backing up the concept may be the ones to give it credibility, they have not conducted actual research to test their theory.
They also still need to present data to challenge the massive evidence already gathered by biologists, geologists and other evolutionary scientists (Sherriff). In the end, it must be remembered that to be considered as science, empirical data and experiments have to be conducted to support a concept. REFERENCES Sherriff, Lucy. Pennsylvania Intelligent Design Trial Winds Up. The Register. 7 Nov. 2005. Accessed 4 July 2006 at: < web >.
Sullivan, Brian K. Kansas State Board Votes to Teach Intelligent Design in Schools. Accessed 4 July 2006 at: < web news? pid = 10000103 &sid = aVeLoLOEyMEI&refer = us>.
Understand the nature and distribution of habitable environments in the Universe. Astrobiology Roadmap. Accessed 4 July 2006 at: web
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Research essay sample on Life Forms In Other Planets
