It turns out Earth-like planets are a dime a dozen in our galaxy

Our galaxy is teeming with Earth-like planets. As a science fiction fan, you probably already figured that was the case, but now there's some real science to prove that it's true.

In recent years, astronomers have been finding all sorts of exoplanets, but they are bizarre, gas giants orbiting close to their suns at tremendous speeds. The new Kepler Space Telescope can spot much smaller worlds and has already identified an amazing 140 candidates for planets that are Earth-like, at least in size.

Whether or not these worlds have atmospheres like ours or water is not known yet, but don't rule out the possibility that life may be there if those elements are not present. There are plenty of scientists who think you don't need water to harbour life.

For those of you who subscribe to the water=life theory, then you may be intrigued to learn that some experts believe that our neighbouring planet, Mars, once had 1/3 of its surface covered by oceans.

Perhaps movie director James Cameron will help us better understand the red planet. He's convinced NASA to let him film the place in 3D on one of their upcoming missions. Forget Avatar, this the Cameron movie I want to see!

Of course, the UFO conspiracists will tell you were wasting our time wondering whether or not life lives elsewhere in the universe. There's already a vast, government conspiracy covering up the UFO fact.