Put Up or Shut Up for Evolution? Nearest "Habitable" Planet Found Orbiting Proxima Centauri

For materialists, the origin of life and the evolution of complex, even intelligent creatures needs to be a sure thing, or close to it, given a suitable planetary environment.

Reportedly Earth-like exoplanets discovered up until now have been far away and difficult to check for signs of alien biology. Not so Proxima b, reported today in Nature ("A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri"). It orbits a red dwarf star, Proxima, in the nearby Alpha Centauri sta...