Two scientific discoveries announced last week are nothing short of amazing and possibly earth shattering.

The first discovery triples the number of stars in the Universe. Red dwarfs are dimmer than the other stars we see in the sky and were hard to count. Recently scientists used powerful instruments on the Keck Observatory in Hawaii to detect these faint Red Dwarfs. Turns out there are 20 times more red dwarfs in the eliptical galaxies around us than in our milky way galaxy. where there are Red Dwarfs, there are earth like planets revolving around them.  There are possibly trillions of Earths orbitting these stars which significantly enhances the possibility of life similar to on Earth. You can read about it more here.

Talking about life, that is the next even more amazing scientific discovery that was announced by NASA last week. Turns out life on Earth is more complicated than we understand. NASA scientists discovered a form of bacteria that can thrive on arsenic dramatically expanding our notions of how life is sustained and where we can discover life. Arsenic is generally considered toxic, but these bacteria are thriving on it!! As we look for life on other planets, we need to be watchful for life that may not resemble what know. What an amazing possibility!! You can read about it more here.

Very optimistic, Ram