Well, two questions in one? The first one… not a big bang? Hmm… Zhenya remembered reading something about the creation of the universe, so she raised her hand to see if she remembered correctly. "Professor, I read that the universe was in a hot, dense state, then it began to expand, then cool, rather than bang." So was earth just a tiny little planet, which expanded?

Her answer wasn't right, but it was close. Hmm… she waited until the correct answer revealed itself and smiled to herself. She enjoyed looking at the stars, who didn't? But more than that, she enjoyed looking at the beautiful moon, and observing its different stages. But why was the moon so important? She raised her hand, waited, then said "Professor the moon's gravitational pull," was that the word? "causes the ocean tide to rise and fall." She paused to remember the rest, "Uh and that was important for evolution, and still is, because it lets different organisms that are in the ocean time to adapt to living out of the water too." That WAS important. Weren't humans evolved from an organism which had adapted to surviving outside the water? Did she read that somewhere or was her mind just pulling her leg? "So no, I don't think earth would be okay without the moon. Well, perhaps one big method of evolution would be taken away anyway." So… maybe for human evolution it wouldn't matter anymore. But surely it would still matter if the moon was no longer there, the ocean level remained the same, and these organisms didn't have the chance to survive and adapt outside.