Many scientists discount the possibility of life around the TRAPPIST-1 system. Here’s why that’s premature, and possibly outright wrong.

By Ethan Siegel. When it comes to life in the Universe, we only have one confirmed example of success: Earth. The raw ingredients for life, however, are everywhere. This includes both the necessary building blocks for life (the raw elements and organic molecules) and also the necessary conditions for it, too. We normally look to our own planet for those conditions, which include a rocky world that’s rich in water, a thin atmosphere, an active magnetic field, and the right temperatures for liquid oceans on its surface. We measure other planets against Earth for their chances of success, and use words like “super-Earth” and “habitable zone” to describe and classify them. But this approach, as common as it is, may lead to us overlooking life where it’s most abundant if it’s not found on worlds like our own…

Source: Proxima b And The Worlds Around TRAPPIST-1 Might Be Habitable, After All » The Event Chronicle