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Recent Discoveries
Recently, this search for aliens has been given a lot of encouragement. Firstly, during 2001 scientists have discovered over 50 planets orbiting stars other than our Sun. Maybe there could be life on one of them. If 50 planets have been discovered in one year, imagine how many more we might discover in the next few years. Secondly, right here on earth we have discovered new creatures that live in places where we previously thought life couldn't survive. For example, crabs and giant worms have been found several kilometres underwater in a pitch black environment. They live near openings in the ocean floor where extremely hot water (up to 350°c) bursts out from inside the Earth. Scientists used to think that nothing could survive without getting energy from the sun, but these creatures somehow manage to. This means that it is also possible that there is life on planets far away from stars, or on planets with very tough environments like ice or extreme heat.