So this week NASA announced the discovery of a microorganism that is able to thrive and reproduce using the toxic chemical arsenic. Presumably this raises the possibility of the existence of life beyond Earth. Says Ed Weller, NASA's associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate: "The definition of life has just expanded. As we pursue our efforts to seek signs of life in the solar system, we have to think more broadly, more diversely and consider life as we do not know it." This excitement by scientists reminds me of back several years ago when what I believe was a meteor was discovered in someone's backyard. While dissecting this meteor's remnants, scientists came to believe that there was evidence within the meteor for the possibility of the existence of life (again, I believe) on Mars. Because of this finding, scientists went to great lengths to protect this meteor.
Perhaps I am reading too much into this, but whenever I hear people talk about the possible existence of life or signs of life on another planet, I cannot help but think of the abortion issue. Here we have NASA scientists going all crazy about a microorganism as being a "life", something to be valued, protected, and looked upon in awe; and yet every day hundreds of actual human lives are aborted with little if any consideration. No value, no protection, no awe. Imagine an alien scientist from outer space, not understanding human reproductivity, seeing for the first time a baby in the womb of a human. Would they be as amazed of this "life" as our scientists seem to be about life beyond Earth?
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