Alone in the universe

Source: Guillermo Ferla on Unsplash

Hope of alien life fades

Leading astronomer pours cold water on hope of finding alien life

Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at Harvard, made the claim that we are alone in the universe after an analysis of the 500 planets discovered so far showed all were hostile to life.

Dr Smith said the extreme conditions found so far on planets discovered outside out Solar System are likely to be the norm, and that the hospitable conditions on Earth could be unique.

“We have found that most other planets and solar systems are wildly different from our own. They are very hostile to life as we know it,” he said.

He pointed to stars such as HD10180, which sparked great excitement when it was found to be orbited by a planet of similar size and appearance to Earth.

But the similarities turned out to be superficial. The planet lies less than two million miles from its sun, meaning it is roasting hot, stripped of its atmosphere and blasted by radiation.

Many of the other planets have highly elliptical orbits which cause huge variations in temperature which prevent water remaining liquid, thus making it impossible for life to develop.

A separate team of scientists recently declared the chance of aliens existing on a newly discovered Earth-like planet “100 per cent”.

Professor Steven Vogt , of the Carnegie institution in Washington, said he had “no doubt” extraterrestrial life would be found on a small, rocky planet found orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581 last September.

Such hopes are likely to be raised further in the coming weeks, when Nasa's Kepler satalite is expected to confirm the existence of hundreds of new planets.

But Dr Smith dismissed the claims, insisting that other extrasolar planets differ starkly from our own and that even if they did support life, it would be impossible for humans to make contact.

"Extrasolar systems are far more diverse than we expected, and that means very few are likely to support life.

"Any hope of contact has to be limited to a relatively tiny bubble of space around the Earth, stretching perhaps 1,250 light years out from our planet, where aliens might be able to pick up our signals or send us their own.

But communicating would still take decades or centuries."

Source: Sunday Telegraph

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Vocabulary Practice

Here are the definitions and example sentences of words and expressions from the above text. They are taken from the Cambridge Dictionary. Complete the sentences using the word or expression in its correct form.

1. to cause the start of something, especially an argument or fighting: This proposal will almost certainly _____ another countrywide debate about how to organize the school system.
2. [C] a ball of air in a liquid, or a delicate hollow sphere floating on top of a liquid or in the air: As water begins to boil, _______ rise ever faster to the surface
3. to (cause to) lose colour, brightness or strength gradually: My suntan is already ______
4. [I or T] to explode or destroy something or someone with explosives, or to break through or hit something with a similar, very strong force: A tunnel was to be _______ through the mountains.
5. a situation or type of behaviour that is expected and considered to be typical: One child per family is fast becoming ________ in some countries.
6. the level of possibility that something will happen: There's a good _____ (that) I'll have this essay finished by tomorrow.
7. to spread over a large area or distance: The Andes _______ for 7250 km along the west coast of South America.
8. very obviously and clearly: Her later sensual works contrast _______ with the harsh earlier paintings.
9. to be known or discovered finally and surprisingly: The truth __________ to be stranger than we had expected.
10. to criticize someone's opinions or ideas and stop people believing them or being excited about them: Margaret Thatcher poured cold water on the idea of a European central bank.

I have created plenty of exercises in previous posts to practice vocabulary. Many of them haven't been touched. Please do them.

Take a note of the words and expressions (in green), just as you would in class. It is impossible to learn all the new vocabulary from a post but try to use some when leaving a comment.