Life on Europa

     ALMOST 500 MILLION MILES AWAY FROM THE SUN, A SMALL MOON NAMED
EUROPA ORBITS EUROPA. IT'S COVERED IN ICE AND CRATERS AND SOME SCIENTISTS THINK
IT MAY BE OUR BEST CHANCE FOR FINDING EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL LIFE IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
UNDERNEATH ALL THAT ICE IT'S BELIEVED THERE'S A LIQUID OCEAN.  AND THAT'S THE FIRST
TIME WE'VE SEEN AN OCEAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM. SINCE ON OUR
PLANET LIFE NEEDS WATER TO EXIST IT MAKES SENSE THAT LIFE MIGHT ARISE ON EUROPA.
bUT LIFE NEEDS MORE THAN WATER, IT NEEDS WARMTH AND ENERGY, TOO.  EUROPA'S SO
FAR AWAY FROM THW SUN, AT FIRST GLANCE YOU'D THINK IT DOESN'T HAVE THE
NECESSARY INGREDIENTS.  BUT STEVE SQUIRES, A GEOPHYSICIST AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY
SAYS EUROPA DOES HAVE A SOURCE OF HEAT.

     Squires: "Europa has a tide and the size of that tidal bulge is related to how close it
is to jupiter. . .if its in a little closer the bulge gets bigger, if its out a little further the bluge
gets smaller and. . .  just as if you take a piee of wire and bend it back and forth rapidly
you will dposit heat, the same thing happeeds to europa and hti is the process of tidal
heating."

     ALL THAT MOVEMENT ALSO PROBABLY CREATES UNDERWATER VOLCANOES.  ON
EARTH THE AREAS AROUND SUBMARINE VOLCANOES ARE TEEMING WITH LIFE EVEN
THOUGH THEY NEVER GET LIGHT FROM the SUN.  JOHN DELANEY IS A BIOLOGIST AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON.  

     Squires: "the paradigm that perhaps we're heading for is that the brittle outer
portion of any volcanically active planet may harbor. . .life."

     EVEN IF THERE'S NO LIFE ON EUROPA, DELANEY SAYS IT COULD STILL TEACH
SCIENTISTS A LOT.

     Squires: "suppose we don't find life. . . why not there and why did it on earth? even
if we don't find life esploring the europa ocean might give u profound insights into the
necessary conditions for life to arise."