Astrobiology
How to Plant a Garden on Mars — With a Robot
Editor's note: This guest post is written by Louisa Preston, an Astrobiologist and Planetary Geologist. She is a TED Fellow,…
‘Ultimate’ Prebiotic Molecules Found in Interstellar Space
The building blocks of life could have their beginnings in the tiny icy grains that make up the gas and…
Hunting for High Life: What Lives in Earth’s Stratosphere?
The Moon photographed through the layers of the atmosphere from the ISS in December 2003 (NASA/JSC) What lives at the…
Mars Sample Return Mission? Naaah… Just Beam Back Martian DNA
Artist concept of a Mars Sample Return mission. Credit: Wickman Spacecraft & Propulsion. A Mars sample return mission has long…
Alien Life May Not Be So Alien – If It Exists At All
[/caption] Are we too hopeful in our hunt for extraterrestrial life? Regardless of exoplanet counts, super-Earths and Goldilocks zones, the…
We Really Hope ET is Out There, But There’s Not Enough Scientific Evidence, Researchers Say
[/caption] For many of us who grew up listening to Carl Sagan, watching robotic spacecraft travel to other worlds, and…
Intelligent Alien Dinosaurs?
I for one welcome our alien dinosaur overlords…maybe. Dinosaurs once roamed and ruled the Earth. Is it possible that similar…
Is This Proof of Life on Mars?
[/caption] The Curiosity rover is currently on its way to Mars, scheduled to make a dramatic landing within Gale Crater…
How Would Humans Respond to First Contact from an Alien World?
[/caption] According to Star Trek lore, it is only 51 years until humans encounter their first contact with an alien…
“Tidal Venuses” May Have Been Wrung Out To Dry
[/caption] Earth-sized exoplanets within a distant star's habitable zone could still be very much uninhabitable, depending on potential tidal stresses…