[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

Research presented recently at the International Astronomical Union XXIX General Assembly suggests that our universe is dimming.

The inevitability of our universe succumbing to entropy — and nothingness — in the fullness of cosmic time is surely food for thought; but to my mind though, what is far more troubling is humanity’s lack of respect and awe for our own planet.

As many see it, space could hold the answer to humanity’s more immediate challenges. Recent findings confirmed the existence of the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a star much like our own Sun.

In many ways, this new planet — Kepler-425b — seems like a long-lost twin brother to Earth. It’s certainly tempting to think that some day, as technology advances, humans could escape the problems of our own planet by settling on Earth 2.0.

Don’t start packing your bags yet though. There’s one big problem: it is 1,400 light-years away. The way things are going on our own planet, I doubt we can wait for the time when we can hope to arrive at this planet by taking space travel.