Search for Alien Life Should Include Exotic Possibilities

Search for Alien Life Should Include Exotic Possibilities


For most researchers’ money, an Earth-like planet is the best bet for finding alien life. But looking in such an exclusive range of possibilities might give them only half the story. A team of scientists is now proposing an index that ranks a planet’s habitability using a much wider set of criteria.

Massive volcanoes, meteorite impacts delivered one-two death punch to dinosaurs: study

Massive volcanoes, meteorite impacts delivered one-two death punch to dinosaurs: study

A cosmic one-two punch of colossal volcanic eruptions and meteorite strikes likely caused the mass-extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period that is famous for killing the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, according to two Princeton University reports that reject the prevailing theory that the extinction was caused by a single large meteorite.

Recipe for the Moon’s Magnetic Field: Spin and Stir

Recipe for the Moon’s Magnetic Field: Spin and Stir

When astronauts from the 1969 Apollo 11 mission returned to Earthwith about 50 pounds of lunar rocks and soil, scientists were surprised to find that some of the samples were magnetized. TheMoon has no magnetic field, so it must have had an unknown magnetic past.

Bigger Goldilocks zone increases chance of finding life in space

Bigger Goldilocks zone increases chance of finding life in space

This makes it much more likely that life-supporting planets exist elsewhere in our galaxy.

The study looked at the relationship between the radiation from red dwarf stars and the reflective quality – or albedo – of snow and ice cover on orbiting planets.

Red dwarfs are cooler than G-type stars like our Sun and give off energy at longer wavelengths. More of this energy is absorbed by snow and ice than reflected back into space. This warms the planet's surface, melting some of the ice to produce liquid water – a fundamental requirement for life.

Proof the Universe is Fine-Tuned for Life? Scientists Find Antarctica Meteorites Contain Essential Building Block of DNA

Proof the Universe is Fine-Tuned for Life? Scientists Find Antarctica Meteorites Contain Essential Building Block of DNA

NASA-funded researchers found evidence this past summer that some building blocks of DNA, the molecule that carries the genetic instructions for life, found in meteorites were likely created in space. The research gives support to the theory that a "kit" of ready-made parts created in space and delivered to Earth by meteorite and comet impacts assisted the origin of life.

Most Popular Skywatching Misconceptions Explained

Link: Most Popular Skywatching Misconceptions Explained

With the return of the brilliant planet Venus to our evening sky, I’m reminded of an amusing anecdote related by a good friend of mine, George Lovi, a well-known astronomy lecturer and author who passed away in 1993.

Most common stars are more life-friendly than thought

Link: Most common stars are more life-friendly than thought

SMALL and cool they may be, but red dwarfs, the most common kind of stars, are more likely to support life than we thought. Far-off icy planets that orbit these stars could still be warm enough to contain liquid water because of the way snow and ice absorb their near-infrared light.

Palaeolithic Astronomers and Parietal Art (video)

Link: Palaeolithic Astronomers and Parietal Art (video)

(thanks, Klint)

35,000 Years ago in Europe, tribes of hunter gatherers invented a fascinating artform. An art populated with animals, emerging from the depth of the earth. Some 18,000 years later in the heart of Périgueux region in france they created their most fabulous masterpiece: Lascaux.

Prehistorians have offered all sorts of explanations for the paintings. But an independent French researcher has come with an exciting new hypothesis. She thinks the Lascaux cave paintings represent a map of the sky: The sky as seen by the world’s first prehistoric astronomers, 17,000 years ago.