Genetics and evolution will one day be proven to be far more complex of a system than what is known today. There are planetary factors, solar factors and even galactic factors that have a say in the formation of life in many different ways. Our Sun and its respective effects on the formation of life leads to a sentience such as ours. As many have theorized, physics begins to differ from galaxy to galaxy. Stars have a lot to do with that, in realms of energy that we haven't even begun to touch.