Are we alone in the universe?

JACKIE FAHERTY (Senior Scientist, Division of Physical Sciences, American Museum of Natural History): Is there life in the universe?

[FAHERTY speaks to camera. Text reads: “Is there life in the universe?”]

[MUSIC] [BOOM]

[The American Museum of Natural History logo appears, with text below it reading “Space Vs Dinos” superimposed on illustrations of an asteroid and a dinosaur skull. FAHERTY reappears, with text: “Jackie Faherty, Astrophysicist”]

FAHERTY: There are two ways to answer that question. One is via science.

[A circle containing the number 1, quickly replaced by the word “Science,” appears to FAHERTY’s right. Variables and mathematical symbols float alongside.]

FAHERTY: You try and quantify anything that goes into that question. The other is your gut.

[A circle containing the number 1, quickly replaced by the word “Science,” appears to FAHERTY’s right. Lightbulbs and sparkles float alongside.]

FAHERTY: We'll get to that one at the end. For the scientific way,

[A black and white image of Frank Drake slides down. An arrow indicates “Astronomer Frank Drake]

FAHERTY: we can really thank an astronomer named Frank Drake, who came up with an equation,

[The image and text is replaced by an equation that rolls out on screen: N = R_* • f_p • n_e • f_l • f_i • f_c • L. A label indicating to the equation reads “The Drake Equation 1961”]

FAHERTY: in the 1960s, that attempts to give a quantifiable approach

[Text switches to “(Don’t worry, we’ll explain this)”]

FAHERTY: to answer this question. And Drake's equation has a number of pieces that go into it,

[The variables in the equation all bunch together and funnel into “N,” to the left of FAHERTY.]

FAHERTY: to give you a number at the end of how many planets might you expect intelligent life to exist on.

[An arrow points away from N to text that reads “Number of Earth-like planets with intelligent life.”]

FAHERTY: One piece that's pretty basic is how many stars are there in the galaxy?

[Points of light materialize on a grey background. The number one appears at the bottom of the screen along with text that reads “How many stars are there?”]

FAHERTY: How many of those stars have planets around them?

[An illustrated star with four planets orbiting around it rotates up from the right. Text reads: “2. How many stars have planets?”

FAHERTY: How many of those planets are in the habitable zone of their star?

[We zoom into one of the planets, which is blue with waves on it. Text reads: “3. How many planets are habitable?” A thermometer and a drop of water appear to the left and right of the blue planet respectively, and checkmarks appear over both symbols with a [DING]. The symbols disappear and the blue planet moves to the right. A circle with FAHERTY inside pops up to the left.] 

FAHERTY: And then it gets a little bit more complicated, into things that we're not quite sure how to answer.

[The circle with FAHERTY minimizes and the camera jumps into the water of the blue planet with a [SPLASH].]

FAHERTY: How often does microbial life sprout up on a planet?

[Microbes swim around the screen while bubbles come up underneath them. Text reads: “4. How often does life begin?”]

FAHERTY: And then how often does intelligent life emerge from that?

[One of the microbes morphs into a brain. The camera zooms out so we see that the brain is inside an illustration of a human, who scratches its head and thinks “Did I leave the oven on…” Text at the bottom reads: “5. How often does life become intelligent?”] 

FAHERTY: You can get an answer that's as small as just the Earth,

[A large “N =” appears. To the right of the equals sign, a rotating globe bounces down from the top of the screen.]

FAHERTY: or as large as hundreds of thousands 

[With a [THUMP] the rotating globe is replaced by the number 100,220 which starts rapidly [TICKING] up.]

FAHERTY: if not millions of planets 

[The 100,000 number is replaced by a 1,000,000 number rapidly [TICKING] up. Many rotating globes of different sizes start falling in the background.] 

FAHERTY: in our own galaxy that might have intelligent life on them.

[The 1,000,000 number is replaced by a 1,000,000,000 number. Beneath the number, which is still ticking up, text appears: “*Doesn’t even include ‘life’ like silicon bobs or energy fields”]

FAHERTY: And that kind of range

[The N variable appears on a line with the value 1 at the far left and infinity at the far right. Text below reads: “Planets with intelligent life.”]

FAHERTY: from basically nothing to everything

[The N variable starts rapidly moving between the far left and far right end points.]

FAHERTY: means we don’t have enough information to confidently say one way or another.

[Text appears on screen: “Is there life in the universe? (according to the Drake Equation)” Two checkboxes below appear for Yes and No. Question marks appear in both checkboxes. FAHERTY reappears on screen.]

FAHERTY: Drake's Equation is definitely one way that you can go about trying to get to the answer, but I just don't think that you're going to have a pen and paper answer to "Is there life in the universe?" 

[Next to FAHERTY, circles with a pen and paper appear, which are both crossed out.]

FAHERTY: I actually think it's going to come about because of a discovery.

[In a circle to the left of FAHERTY, a human approaches a telescope. They jump back with a [SQUEAL] and exclamation points fill the circle.]

FAHERTY: That's why I turn to my gut for the answer to this question.

[The human next to the telescope is replaced by text that reads: “Gut”]

FAHERTY: I see life everywhere on this planet.

[At the center of the screen, text reads: “Life found here.” Lines push out from the center with circles showing places where life exists: frozen ice, volcanoes, upper atmosphere, caves, tops of mountains, boiling water.]

FAHERTY: I feel strongly that the oceans of Enceladus and Europa

[Images of two moons appear on screen. Text indicates that both have an “ice-covered ocean.” Text next to the smaller, whiter planet reads: “Enceladus (moon of Saturn)” Text next to the larger planet with red streaks reads: “Europa (moon of Jupiter)”]

FAHERTY: are going to end up having microbial life, or some sort of life in them, 

[Lines coming from both moons lead to a circle with swimming microbes inside, and a question mark.]

FAHERTY: and so my natural answer is “Yes, there is life out there in the universe.” 

[The images of the moons shrink into the dot of an exclamation mark at the end of text: “Yes!” This text appears inside the brain of a human, which raises its arms triumphantly in front of a starry sky. FAHERTY reappears on screen.]

FAHERTY: But if a discovery doesn't happen in my lifetime, I'm not going to count it as “no”.

[Next to FAHERTY, text appears: “No discovery = no life?” A line crosses through the middle of the equals sign and the question mark at the end of “no life?” disappears. The text now reads: “No discovery ≠ no life”] 

FAHERTY: Because the lack of a discovery doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Astronomers certainly won't stop looking – this will always be a question that we seek to have an answer to.

[An astronomical observatory and a person at a telescope appear in front of a starry sky. A UFO [WHIRS] around behind them, while they aren’t looking. It [ZOOMS] away just as the human gets confused and turns toward it.]

[Credits roll. FAHERTY continues to speak in the lower right hand of the screen.]

FAHERTY: Thanks for watching everyone. Be sure to subscribe to the AMNH channel for more videos like this. And you can click the link above my head so that you can get the next dino video that we’ve got lined up for you.

[END MUSIC]