Life on other planets has always been a touchy topic, with much controversy surrounding the ideas of those who believe and much criticism surrounding those who don't. The vast likelihood seems, however, that life on other planets is both possible and probable, although chances of seeing or contacting them are minuscule to none.
Believers often attempt to use the near infinite size of the cosmos to say that this somehow makes it near impossible to not have other life in the universe. Some, however, debate about life's possibility much closer to Earth: Mars. Mars has some considerable evidence of the ability to support life, with the discovery of water on Mars in a shallow trench named”Dodo-Goldilocks”, not to mention the meteorite ALH84001 which came from Mars and was thought, and still possibly could, contain a biosignature from bacteria 100 times smaller than any terrestrial bacteria from Earth. Life in the universe is definitely possible.
Skeptics, however, say the processes that created the fossil-like markings on the meteorite could have very easily been inorganic, as they could have accumulated during the 11000 years it sat on earth before discovery, as well as the fact that the temperature on Mars may not have been suitable for bacteria to grow.
Personally, I believe that, somewhere out in the billions of galaxies, there must be other life. Even though I myself am skeptical of intelligent life, I do believe that there must be some bacteria floating around on other planets, possibly even in our own solar system. Maybe even Mars has secrets waiting to be uncovered, just below the surface of the untouched, undisturbed rock.
I found it strikingly similar to the UFO research I did in the sense that there tend to be a lot of extremists who think aliens will destroy the world any minute now. The research was not very hard overall, despite the lack of results, the results I could find I had no trouble interpreting.
