Alien Life, Homegrown

Humans place ourselves at the center of a web made of our ideas, systems and innovations. We sit highest on the totem pole, just below whatever supreme God we most fear.

But now science and religion might have to grow more humble. Scientists are beginning to wonder whether all life on earth is DNA based or derived. In other words, perhaps the search for "alien" life might begin among the species on our own planet.

Is it possible that the riddle of life elsewhere might lie in the unexplored depths of Earth's oceans, jungles and deserts? Scientists anticipate that we may soon find such a species. And with that discovery, old systems of thought will have to give way.