Astrobiology

Defining Life II: Metabolism and Evolution as clues to Extraterrestrial Life

In the movie "Avatar", we could tell at a glance that the alien moon Pandora was teeming with alien life.…

10 years ago

Defining Life I: What are Astrobiologists Looking For?

How can astrobiologists find extraterrestrial life? In everyday life, we usually don’t have any problem telling that a dog or…

10 years ago

Student Team Wants to Terraform Mars Using Cyanobacteria

While scientists believe that at one time, billions of years ago, Mars had an atmosphere similar to Earth's and was…

10 years ago

Gamma Ray Bursts Limit The Habitability of Certain Galaxies, Says Study

Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are some of the brightest, most dramatic events in the Universe. These cosmic tempests are characterized…

10 years ago

Spectroscopy: The Key to Humanity’s Future in Space

Imagine, if you would, a potential future for humanity… Imagine massive space-elevators lifting groups of men, women, and children skyward…

10 years ago

Communicating Across the Cosmos 4: The Quest for a Rosetta Stone

On television and in the movies, it’s so easy. Aliens almost always speak English (at least in America they do).…

10 years ago

New Analysis Sets a Space & Time Zone for Complex Life

If too close to an environment harboring complex life, a gamma ray burst could spell doom for that life. But…

10 years ago

Communicating Across the Cosmos, Part 3: Bridging the Vast Gulf

If extraterrestrial civilizations exist, the nearest is probably at least hundreds or thousands of light years away. Still, the greatest…

10 years ago

Communicating Across the Cosmos, Part 2: Petabytes from the Stars?

Since it was founded in 1984, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California, has been a…

10 years ago

Communicating Across the Cosmos, Part 1: Shouting into the Darkness

Over the last 20 years, astronomers have discovered several thousand planets orbiting other stars. We now know that potentially habitable…

10 years ago