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Rare Earth

Earth
Photo: Earth and Moon from Artemis II, by NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“Cosmic Orphans” No More: Stephen Meyer on the Meaning of the Artemis II Mission

Aboard the lunar spacecraft, astronaut Victor Glover spoke movingly about what some have called our Privileged Planet. Read More ›
OSIRIS_Mars_true_color
Photo credit: ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA, CC BY-SA IGO 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/deed.en>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Hope for Mars Life Is Dashed Again

Subsequent landers discovered a high concentration of perchlorates in the soil. Perchlorates are chlorinated salts, often used in fireworks. Read More ›
Bennu_mosaic_OSIRIS-REx_(square)
Photo: Bennu, via Wikimedia Commons.

Could This Be the Year’s Most Ridiculous Idea About How Life Originated?

Stories like this always want to tell us how Earth and life are not “special.” It’s an obsession with science writers, and seemingly with the folks at NASA too. Read More ›
Carina-Nebula
Photo credit: Carina Nebula, by James Webb Space Telescope via NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI.

God and the Odds of ET

There is a rational and intellectually defensible strategy for maintaining a measure of optimism about the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Read More ›
fossil leaf
Photo credit: Guillermo Gonzalez.

Plate Tectonics and Scientific Discovery

Plate tectonics is important for advanced life in multiple ways and planets with plate tectonics are very rare. Read More ›
La_pirogue_a_balancier
Photo credit: Brigitte Bourger Brigitte Bourger, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Study: Geological Habitability Parameters Imply Earth is Special and Advanced Life Extremely Rare

One thing that is likely to get some pushback is the study’s claim that modern-style plate tectonics on Earth did not commence until the Neoproterozoic. Read More ›
TerraformedMarsGlobeRealistic
Photo: A terraformed Mars...don't hold your breath, by Daein Ballard, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons.

Earth and Mars — A Rare Gem and a Sharp Contrast

Apparently, simple living organisms must exist for eons on a planet before more advanced life can thrive. Read More ›
lance-asper-3P3NHLZGCp8-unsplash
Photo credit: Lance Asper, via Unsplash.

In the Case of Water, an Inference to Intelligent Design Is Independent of Any Religious Claim

In this article I will explain why, as someone who is agnostic about many religious claims, I find the inference to intelligent design impossible to refuse. Read More ›
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Photo credit: Casey Luskin.

In Aurora Borealis, Scientific and Aesthetic Design Arguments Meet 

You appreciate the aurora borealis or aurora australis because you were not created by strictly material evolutionary processes. Read More ›
agriculture
Photo credit: Larsz/Lars Plougmann, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.

How Earth is Designed for Human Technology

Is all this a coincidence? We think that’s a stretch. One or two fortunate parameters might be called a fluke. Read More ›

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