• Question: Why are we on earth out of all the planets?

    Asked by 11sofdel to James, Marcus, Martin, Rob, Suzanne on 16 Mar 2012.
    • Photo: Martin Zaltz Austwick

      Martin Zaltz Austwick answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Human beings have evolved to fit earth very precisely. You could imagine that if we’d evolved on Mars or somewhere else we’d be very different! Earth has conditions that suit us very well, and it looks as if the other planets don’t have conditions that support complex life like people (yet!).

    • Photo: Marcus Gallagher-Jones

      Marcus Gallagher-Jones answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Thats a pretty deep question, I like it. It really is just a case of right place at the right time. No one can know what conditions started up life for sure but we do know that conditions on earth were just right for it to continue developing and flourishing.

    • Photo: Suzanne McEndoo

      Suzanne McEndoo answered on 16 Mar 2012:

      Well, earth falls into what we call the habitable zone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitable_zone) which is basically the band around a star where life could live. We’re not too close to the sun (too hot) and we’re not too far either (too cold).

      But that’s putting it a bit backwards. We think this is the best zone for life because we developed here, so for us it would be the best zone for life. If an alien species evolved on Saturn, they would say that the habitable zone is much further from the star, and earth is waaaaay too hot. Earth is only special because we’re here to think that it’s special.

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