In case you haven't seen it, Kepler doubled the number of exoplanets found today including the number in the habitable zones of their stars and the number of earth like planets. Earth like doesn't mean life as Venus and Mars are Earth like and in the habitable zones. Biggest take away for me, the number of Earth like planets outnumber the number of Jupiter or giant Jupiter like planets. Planets have to be confirmed. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler_data_release.html http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/02/02/motherlode-of-pote... Kepler also found a mini solar system of 7 planets, close in to their stars but one I believe is close to the earth in terms of mass and composition. Cool stuff! Looks like if there is that many planets in such a small survey of the sky, 105 degrees I believe, then the chance for life out there is pretty great and if you multiply that by not only the Milky Way but the other Spiral galaxies out there, the chance for intelligent life looks to be pretty good. I guess the question will come down to does intelligent life overlap or is it not so common enough so it doesn't? It's an exciting time to be alive and I think Kepler brings excitement in a time and day when many things are dark in our world.