Monday, September 13, 2010
On the meaning of the phrase 'Earth-like planets'.
In this week's Sunday Times, Nasa scientist and Nobel laureate in physics John Mather, made the following comment whilst discussing Nasa's Kepler probe:
'We know there are earth-like planets out there, but what we don't know is whether any of them are capable of supporting life.' (p. 13)
It may be useful to know, next time one reads a report about scientist's discovering an 'Earth-like planet' somewhere out there, that 'Earth-like' can mean 'uninhabitable'...
'We know there are earth-like planets out there, but what we don't know is whether any of them are capable of supporting life.' (p. 13)
It may be useful to know, next time one reads a report about scientist's discovering an 'Earth-like planet' somewhere out there, that 'Earth-like' can mean 'uninhabitable'...
