Sunday, October 10, 2010

Fermi Paradox makes discovery of new habitable planet a good news/bad news situation.

In the latest science news, a planet has been discovered which could potentially support life. A neighborly 20.3 light years away, Gliese 581g has liquid water and enough gravity to maintain an atmosphere -- making it a fairly good imitation of earth.

Great news, right? Homo sapiens now has the potential to spread across the galaxy, leaving the barren rock of Terra behind as we forge into the great empty unknown. Unfortunately, the actual "getting there" part is still a ways off. Even worse, this discovery may not bode well for the future of humanity.