Why is our planet the only one in the solar system with life and diverse climates...

Why is our planet the only one in the solar system with life and diverse climates? Is life strictly limited to being carbon-based?

The presence of lots of water probably is influential in both cases.

Life obviously makes a lot of use of water here, and the differences in our extremes of temperatures is really accentuated by the fact that, on a world swimming in water, the range of temperatures encompasses both sides of the freezing/melting point.

But how did life even start when there was nothing? Where did the first micro-organisms come from?

Solar system? Try observable universe

amino acids

I think it's still too early to say that. We haven't had people dig for fossils on Mars. Nor have we sent probes to explore the sub-surface oceans of Europa or Enceladus. And we haven't sent probes to investigate Titan for simple methane based organisms.

It's really all about the presence of oxygen in a carbon environment you know

Goldilocks Zone and we have a self regulating planetary system that keeps the temperature nice and non-lethal.

We don't know.
We assume it occurred at hydro thermal vents, with something very simple forming, something very unlike any life today. Much more simplistic.

These or the close ancestors of these could possibly be what we are result from:
>The earliest known life forms on Earth are putative fossilized microorganisms, found in hydrothermal vent precipitates, that may have lived as early as 4.28 billion years ago, not long after the oceans formed 4.41 billion years ago, and not long after the formation of the Earth 4.54 billion years ago.

"Water is capable of dissolving a variety of different substances, which is why it is such a good solvent. And, water is called the "universal solvent" because it dissolves more substances than any other liquid. This is important to every living thing on earth."


Water is cool af

>is life strictly limited to being carbon-based
As we know it, yes.

Biologists theorize lightning had something to do with it.

We're the right distance away from the sun for the initial question. A number of planets in our solar system also have seasons. Mercury's the only one where seasons are hard to define.

>meme drive is unlocked
>start finding habitable planets
>colonize the galaxy
>settlers of a new planet finds the first intelligent life
What do?
Wipe them out, keep them isolated, befriend them?
Guess we could befriend them but am paranoid about them getting powerful or smart enough to take us on.

If we can in any way coexist with them, we will likely enlighten them to the wonders of human civilization.

We have good theories, amino acids could of been formed from lightning/volcanic activity and/or from comets

Could've* could have

Just lettin' ya know, brah

God

-We don't have the technology or probes to conclude that any of the outer planets have self replicating molecules on them

-We are the oasis. One day the human species will realize we have driven to extinction the only diversity of life we know in the universe.

-Carbon based? Likely. But we don't know. We haven't even visited the closest planet in person. Our current understanding is that Carbon is required due it's affinity to form covalent, large molecules while sharing 4 electrons.

Throughout the millions of years between modern humans and the common ancestor between chimpanzees and humans, there have been more than one species of Homo on this planet.

Pretty much every single time two species of Homo interacted, one of the species went extinct shortly after.

which one?

because its a RARE SHINY planet

Chemical reaction from amino acids and other building blocks and possibly catalysts. And as has been discovered recently, some of those building blocks may even have formed in clouds of ethanol in space before making their way here.

Prime directive.

Have you tried reading the bible?

It is the only one in the habitable zone for our star size and composition? It's rare to find planets in a habitable zone. We have been actively looking for worlds similar to ours and have only found somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 planets that could possibly support life