December 2011 Commentary: Life of Pie: Exobiology lessons for us here on Mother Earth

Exobiology, the study of life beyond our home planet, may be extraterrestrial “pie in the sky” to many people. In light of the current economic downturn, mounting population pressures, global climate change and environmental degradation, and other problems we face, space exploration could be considered as frivolous excursion, if not wasteful adventure with taxpayers money. What does it matter that subsurface ice occurs on Mars, that Jupiter’s moon Europa has clouds and frozen seas, or that interstellar organic molecules ride upon meteors, comets and asteroids seeding new worlds with building blocks of life in unknown worlds? I find these discoveries wondrously intriguing.