224/ When will we know: Is there Life out there?

Will we ever know whether there is life anywhere else but on Earth? Not if we don't look ... and it is argued today in the SMH that NASA are wasting their money with manned missions to the international space station, the moon and even the ones planned to Mars.

The problem is, NASA is shockingly underfunded for what should be be their prime focus: Finding life elsewhere in the universe. What I find remarkable is the fact that - while they have been NASA's star performers, who do the heavy lifting - the robotic (unmanned) missions by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, have received as much funding over a period of 50 years, as the Pentagon spends in - wait for it - eight weeks.

That's right ... read it again, digest it, and weep.