Fantastic piece, SD. You had me from the first caption! So, here's a thought for ya: I'm thinking it's irrelevant whether life started here or started somewhere else. "Where" doesn't matter much, except as it's a fascinating story to try to unravel for our own planet. If it originated outside our own solar neighborhood, we still want to understand how it began, no matter how far away. Right? And since we seem to expect "aliens" to be more advanced than us (otherwise how could they get here before we got there?), it does seem to follow that logic that life would have evolved somewhere other than here. (I remember those college days long ago when we spent untold hours in underground coffee houses, smoking and drinking and playing chess and talking about how it all began. It's no less fascinating today.) Thank you SO MUCH!