This planet search is all fine, but so far all the planets I have read about circumnavigate their sun in about 18 to 36 hours. This means the planets are much too close to their suns to sustain life. When they find an earth type planet far enough to support life, I’ll be a bit more interested.
You mean life as you understand it here on earth?
It's interesting, at nuclear test sites, living microorganisms have been found just under the surface at ground zero, miles under water, under layers of ice hundreds of feet deep, etc.
I would think being on a planet, distant from a star, life of some form could easily exist.
The closer to the star, the easier the planets are to spot. Multi-planet systems (such as 55 Cancri) have made excellent targets for study, because planets pull on each other as well.