Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer! In all the world, there is perhaps no greater display of what is possible under the definition of life than that which we can find beneath the surface of the sea. Underneath the waves, there’s an atmosphere so dense with life, blanketed in a nutrient rich environment that openly thrives upon itself.
The oceans are not only alive, they’re abundantly so. Making the air breathing world above look deserted by comparison as though land above the surface air were just so much sun bleached rock and dried sand.
For all the wonder that can come from gazing up at the stars, for all the excitement in the study of varied creatures that crawl upon the surface of the earth, there is even more to see and beneath the frothing wave and choppy sea.
Life in abundance variation across several oceans, enough life forms in fact to populate the solar system a galaxy or perhaps even multiple galaxies complete with diverse ecosystems redundant in survival solutions and resplendent in evolutionary potential, all here quietly brewing in a potent primordial stew below 70% of our planet’s surface.
And while brewing with frothy potential, much like the following hour of programming, does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors, for species as curious as ours, as interested in life among the stars as we are, we are fortunate to have such an irrefutably fantastic proximity to life in space situated on a perfect platform from which to launch our exploration of this life without ever having to traverse the cold radiation filled expanses between suitable solar systems in search of such a place.
My goodness. And with galactic magnitudes of life forms abounding all around us, while reflecting upon our good fortune, we take a moment now to tune in to what else we are lucky enough to be researching into instead of stuck out searching for, here on This Week In Science, coming up next. This is the one.
Continue reading “Transcript: TWIS.org Sept 22, 2009”