Is Life Common in the Universe?

How ubiquitous is life in the universe? Can life form easily from nothing or is it very difficult? Is life strewn throughout the cosmos? Watch this hangout to explore these questions and many more!
The question of the commonality of life in the universe burns inside us. We want to know if we are the only ones inhabiting the vastness of eternity. Is it possible we are the only ones?
Forget civilizations, it would be a comfort even if we can find simpler forms of life out there: plants, bacteria, anything. At least then we'd know we aren't the only forms of life in the universe.
To explore this idea, we need to answer some hard questions: how difficult is it to make life from a primordial soup? How can life best propagate itself throughout the cosmos? What's the prognosis for finding life in our own solar system? What plans do we have for the search?
Join Tony Darnell as we dive into these topics and many more with our guests:
Dr. Penelope Boston: Director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute (NAI), at NASA Ames
Dr. Peter Ward: Professor, UW Dept of Biology
Dr. Svetlana Berdyugina: Director, Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics
Dr. Jeff Kuhn: Professor/Astronomer - University of Hawaii