The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe? by Paul Davies | Book review | Books | The Guardian

The Cartwheel Galaxy Photograph: AP

Here is the problem: everywhere we look on Earth, there is life. Microbes multiply in the highest clouds; bacteria cling to Saharan desert dust as it blows across the Atlantic; millions of viral particles dance in a droplet of seawater. Microbes thrive in ice, super-heated water, acid, alkaline solutions, salt lakes and even nuclear reactor waste pools. Deep in the ocean basalt, there is a vast subculture of tiny creatures that exploit a hydrogen economy: they turn water and carb
The Eerie Silence: Are We Alone in the Universe? by Paul Davies | Book review | Books | The Guardian