Monica Grady CBE (who is a professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University, and author of several books on meteorites as well as astro-biology) has made some astounding claims that life on Europa may exist. When speaking at Liverpool University graduation ceremony she said, “When it comes to the prospects of life beyond Earth, it’s almost a racing certainty that there’s life beneath the ice on Europa.” Professor Grady said, “Whether we will ever be able to contact extraterrestrial life is anyone’s guess, purely because the distances are just too huge. And as for so-called alien ‘signals’ received from space, there’s been nothing real or credible, I’m afraid.” She claims also that life on Mars is particularly slim, commenting, “If there is something on Mars, it’s likely to be very small—bacteria.” But I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.’ Grady also said the environmental conditions which caused the evolution of life on Earth are ‘highly likely’ to be found in other star systems. ‘Our solar system is not a particularly special planetary system, as far as we know, and we still haven’t explored all the stars in the galaxy,’ she added. ‘But I think it’s highly likely there will be life elsewhere—and I think it’s highly likely they’ll be made of the same elements. ‘Humans evolved from little furry mammals that got the opportunity to evolve because the dinosaurs were killed by an asteroid impact.