Time Immortal

…although the idea that an inbound meteorite might have catalyzed the eventual “dominance” of so-called “left-handed” amino acids (a pre-requisite for the evolution of life on Earth) is, if nothing else, interesting.

I could do without the metaphysical leap at the end of the article, though:

“This work is related to the probability that there is life somewhere else,” said Breslow. “Everything that is going on on Earth occurred because the meteorites happened to land here. But they are obviously landing in other places. If there is another planet that has the water and all of the things that are needed for life, you should be able to get the same process rolling.”

I suppose its entirely possible that meteor impacts had the effect that Ronald Breslow (Ph.D., Columbia University) and his team is proposing, and if so it is certainly a most interesting path by which some of the necessary pre-conditions for the emergence of life on Earth were set up. Of course, if it did happen that way, it doesn’t really tell us all that much about the probability of life anywhere else in the galaxy, or the Universe (I’ve said before that in articles such as this, the discussion tends to jump all too quickly to the issue of alien life) — the meteor and the amino acids it brought with it would still have had to land on a planet that had all the other pre-requisites for life already in place (i.e. a certain climate, water, ample light but controlled exposure to harsher radiation spectra, etc.). For all we know there is a scarcity of planets on which such conditions arose (we also lack any assurance that such conditions would persist; for all we know, there may be a very tiny window in a planet’s evolutionary cycle in which the potential for the emergence of life exists).

But as I said, the article ends with Breslow making a bit of a metaphysical leap in claiming that the meteor just “happened to land here.” That’s certainly one interpretation, but an equally valid interpretation would be to observe the somewhat poetic metaphor that exists in the meteor “touching” down on Earth, kindling the first necessary reactions that brought about life on this world (think: finger of God). Either way, it’s a metaphysical leap, not a scientific statement, and seems out of place in the article as a whole.

This Edmonton Journal piece is a bit misleading.

Astronomers have found organic chemicals on a planet outside our Solar System, a milestone in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Researchers also identified water in the atmosphere of the so-called alien planet, a world too hot for conditions favourable for life as we understand it.

But the ability of scientists to analyze its atmosphere and detect carbon-based molecules is a crucial feat in efforts to find planets that may harbour extraterrestrial life. Reported today in the journal Nature, the feat makes the alien planet possibly the best understood of the 270 detected so far. It is named HD 189733b and was discovered in 2005 in the constellation Vulpecula, a realm 63 light years from Earth.

The organic chemical in question is methane. The presence of an organic hydrocarbon in a planet’s atmosphere, while interesting, is hardly an indicator of the probability of finding alien life, either on HD 189733 b or on any other planet yet discovered — especially since methane can be created by non-organic sources (and the planet’s atmosphere does have a lot of water vapour in it; if it also had a high carbon concentration, this would probably provide sufficient pre-conditions for methane formation). And at any rate, the planet itself is not exactly hospitable — its atmospheric temperature is on the order of 700 degrees C.

Maybe there is alien life out there somewhere, or maybe there isn’t. All we know right now is that we don’t know of any other life besides that which has emerged on Earth; for all intents and purposes, we are alone. I can understand the excitement that accompanies every discovery made about other planets in the galaxy…I just wish people would exercise a little restraint, and take a little time to think, before jumping to a not particularly likely conclusion about life on other worlds.

In addition to making you an advocate for censorship, that is.

The York University Federation of Students — yes, the same York University group that denied pro-life students at York the right of freedom of expression — recently condemned McMaster University for censoring an anti-Israel poster which contained violent imagery and the phrase “Israel Apartheid.”

Just so we’re clear, here’s the apparent policy on freedom of speech at York University:

• pro-life students showing pictures depicting graphic, bloody images of aborted babies = not allowed
• anti-Israel students showing pictures depicting graphic, bloody images of Palestinians killed by Israeli weapons = must be allowed
• pro-life students comparing abortion to other notable historical injustices such as the Holocaust = not allowed
• anti-Israel students comparing the current situation in Gaza to other notable historical injustices such as South African apartheid = must be allowed

Or, to put it more succinctly:

• forbidding pro-life students from holding events or displaying materials = not Censorship
• forbidding anti-Israel students from holding events or displaying materials = censorship

Look, there’s a lot of evidence coming out now that details the drastic, devastating effects of birth control and other drugs on aquatic ecosystems (when you pee it out, ladies and gents, it has to go somewhere!). We know it affects animal life, and we know that current water treatment schemes don’t filter all of it out. We know that these drugs are getting into our Food chains and water supplies.

I swear…that has to be the explanation for why the York Federation of Students has absolutely no ability to understand why its banning of a widely publicized, multi-student-group event would be seen as an act of censorship, and for why the same student federation (apparently without a trace of irony) then has the temerity to criticize a different educational institution for an act of censorship. It’s got to be something in the water. I hope it’s something in the water.

The alternative? My God but progressives are dense!

Update: Welcome, Steynians! BCF also has some information pertaining to YFS hypocrisy.