A fool hath said in his heart, 'God is not;' They have done corruptly, They have done abominable actions, There is not a doer of good. - Psalm 14:1

15 June 2009

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On an otherwise quiet day buried within the next few decades a binary signal will arrive destined to change all major faiths. Not from another intelligent species - even assuming dozens of binary signals floating through our galaxy, the odds of intercepting one are slim, and unnecessary to the point. What we'll get is a signal from a human craft, perhaps an inter-planetary probe dug into the ice of Europa or Titan, sharing with us a discovery such as this one:

Tiny Frozen Microbe May Hold Clues To Extraterrestrial Life

ScienceDaily (June 15, 2009) — A novel bacterium -- trapped more than three kilometres under glacial ice in Greenland for over 120,000 years -- may hold clues as to what life forms might exist on other planets.

Dr Jennifer Loveland-Curtze and a team of scientists from Pennsylvania State University report finding the novel microbe, which they have called Herminiimonas glaciei, in the current issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. The team showed great patience in coaxing the dormant microbe back to life; first incubating their samples at 2˚C for seven months and then at 5˚C for a further four and a half months, after which colonies of very small purple-brown bacteria were seen.

H. glaciei is small even by bacterial standards – it is 10 to 50 times smaller than E. coli. Its small size probably helped it to survive in the liquid veins among ice crystals and the thin liquid film on their surfaces. Small cell size is considered to be advantageous for more efficient nutrient uptake, protection against predators and occupation of micro-niches and it has been shown that ultramicrobacteria are dominant in many soil and marine environments.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090614201734.htm

Or we may get the answer from a next generation telescope.

Effective Way To Search Atmospheres Of Planets For Signs Of Life

ScienceDaily (June 12, 2009) — Astronomers using the Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) William Herschel Telescope (WHT) on La Palma have confirmed an effective way to search the atmospheres of planets for signs of life, vastly improving our chances of finding alien life outside our solar system.

The team from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) used the WHT and the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) to gather information about the chemical composition of the Earth's atmosphere from sunlight that has passed through it. The research is published June11 in Nature.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090610133557.htm


I don't consider science as anathema to religion. A successful amalgamation can be built from both, but that doesn't mean the two are equals. Eventually science wins out because the gaps that god fills are erased through innovation and discovery. Finding life on another planet, the ultimate poster child for abiogenesis (which is anathema to religious faith), will mean Zero Hour for millions of holdouts. People who might have left religion years ago if not for the nagging (or wishful) feeling that something bigger must be responsible for the supposed complexity of life.

Make no mistake the day is coming. In a final irony it will be a moment of glory for godless heathens and one of spiritual pain for many of the faithful.

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