What is the likelihood that intelligent life could arise on another Earth-like planet under similar circumstances? This thought experiment offers the opportunity to imagine if the clock went back to zero on Earth - or an identical twin of our home planet - and deduce what the odds are that an intelligent species would evolve. This recent study was conducted by Dr David Kipping of Columbia University, New York, and it utilises a statistical tool known as Bayesian inference.
There have been many astronomers throughout time that have tried to find any indication of whether we are the only intelligent life to exist throughout the universe or whether there are other civilisations and species out there. Frank Drake’s equation, devised in 1961, is one famous example of how astronomers have tried to calculate the number of possible intelligent extraterrestrial life forms mathematically, but it also demonstrates how many different parameters it depends on and how little is known about each parameter.