Alien Life Detected on Titan, but Hold Them Horses

The Internet has been flooded with article after article of news that NASA scientists have evidence there is life on the largest moon of Saturn, known as Titan. Normally, I would provide a link in brackets, but just Google up "Titan" and go to news. There are 151 articles posted you can choose from if you feel you need more information than provided here.

In short form, two vital clues were published in "Icarus" and "The Journal of Geophysical Research" that mention methane-based life-forms may exist on Titan.

Observations by the Cassini probe detected hydrogen gas in the atmosphere, but did not exist at or on the surface, suggesting life forms may be breathing it in. Researchers expected the sunlight and hydrogen to react into a gas called acetylene, but this has not been detected.

I was extremely excited and hyper after the news, believing that the next step in human discoveries above our stratosphere had taken a giant leap forward. After all, I had known for years that Titan contains enough ice, which would melt into water in a few billion years, to support life similar to our planet's. Furthermore, I have heard that water vapour has been discovered from the friction of Saturn's rings on Titan. So, it was intriguing to say the least when I kept reading that life on Titan was evident.

This small finding fueled the Internet world to believe that alien life has been found on a cold, desolate, icy moon, but hold your horses I was later told. The recent findings have blown well out of proportion, as scientists said they have calculations which could provide evidence of life, however, these calculations have not yet been finalized.

Chris McKay, who proposed the idea in 2005 about methane-based life forms on Titan, said that although the evidence is exciting, if correct, we must not jump to conclusions and the simplest explanation is usually the right answer (Occam's Razor). He claims there are four other possible explanations (see Universe Today article for full details) including a possible error in the simulation.

I find it unfortunate that I could only find one article playing Devil's Advocate, especially to such a large discovery, but maybe the buzz still has not worn off for unbiased journalists. I'm glad that I did find that story, because my expectations would have been set very high and disappointment would only ensue if the figures were incorrect.

For now, I will sit back and just hope that these microbes do exist on Titan. Like buying a lottery ticket a few days in advance, I dream of big things (for humanity).