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A cold, dry basin in north-west Tibet could be the best place on Earth to find microbes similar to those that may have lived on ancient Mars
Breaking News - 03 March 2007
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Fewer than half of survey respondents said they trust NASA to protect Earth from organisms brought here in Martian soil
News - 23 February 2007
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Microbes could withstand the intense pressure wave created by meteor impacts on Mars, a new study suggests, indicating they could survive Earth landing too
News - 27 January 2007
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Like NASA, the European Space Agency wants to launch missions to the Moon and Mars - it will focus on digging and drilling
Breaking News - 10 January 2007
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A new mathematical model explains why we have not seen signs of alien civilisations - assuming, of course, that we are indeed sharing our galaxy
News - 20 January 2007
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What if life on Earth was inevitable and arose merely as the consequence of the laws of physics. Would that thought encourage alien-hunters?
News - 14 December 2006
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New research shows the bubbles formed before the Earth appeared, and possibly before the Sun, in temperatures near absolute zero
Breaking News - 30 November 2006
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If we encountered alien life, chances are we wouldn't recognise it - not even if it were here on Earth, says Robert Hazen
Features - 17 November 2006
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Why would anyone go to the most arid, lifeless place on Earth to look for clues to alien life? New Scientist joins the quest
Features - 30 October 2006
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Beaming signals into space to find ET may be risky for Earth and its citizens - a new Richter-like scale assesses our chances of detection
Breaking News - 24 October 2006
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Three decades after the mission turned up conflicting evidence of life, a new analysis casts doubt on one experiment that ruled it out
Breaking News - 23 October 2006
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Yet more orbital images of the Red Planet's infamous 'face' confirm it is simply a hill that was probably sculpted by ancient water
Breaking News - 21 September 2006
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Two miles down in a South African mine live the first known organisms to exist completely independently of the Sun, boosting chances of life on other planets
Breaking News - 19 October 2006
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Finding life on alien planets could be unexpectedly tough, because they may not have the oxygen-rich atmosphere usually taken as a signature of life
News - 11 October 2006
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The Jupiter-sized world skirts in front of its host star in the most ideal geometry known for studying the planet's composition and atmosphere
Breaking News - 08 September 2006
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Exclusive
It's 10 years since the world woke up to news of Martians. They turned out to be a false alarm, but the story is far from over
Features - 25 August 2006
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Even when it's cold enough to freeze the mercury in your thermometer, life goes on - the frigid wastes of the solar system never looked so habitable
Features - 12 August 2006
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The electromagnetic fields that give us auroras could send bacteria to colonise other planets
Breaking News - 21 July 2006
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Microbes discovered by a lake of liquid carbon dioxide under the sea off Taiwan could help us locate life on Mars, researchers say
Breaking News - 28 August 2006
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The arid heart of the Atacama desert in Chile was thought to be the only completely lifeless place on the planet - until now
Breaking News - 08 July 2006
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Dust grains made of a harsh chemical, used in bleach on Earth, may rain down on Mars, destroying the building blocks of life
Breaking News - 02 August 2006
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Even when it's cold enough to freeze the mercury in your thermometer, life goes on - the frigid wastes of the solar system never looked so habitable
Features - 12 August 2006
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Who says ET lives on a planet? We may be more likely to find him on a giant moon rocked by violent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions
Features - 30 June 2006
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When astronauts return to the Moon, they should keep their eyes peeled for extraterrestrial artefacts just in case, an astronomer argues
Breaking News - 16 May 2006
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Ancient rock formations in Western Australia may be home to the earliest evidence not only of life on Earth but also of biodiversity
News - 08 June 2006
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The glow of sunlight bouncing off the Earth reveals many tell-tale signs of life the same may be true of light reflected by planets orbiting their own shining stars
Breaking News - 25 May 2006
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A new reports says cuts are misplaced and NASA's internal decision-making structure is flawed but change may be imminent
Breaking News - 04 May 2006
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Some say the universe is so finely tuned to support life, there is little point asking why - but there may now be a way to test one aspect of this view
News - 15 May 2006
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The first optical telescope dedicated to SETI opens - it will be able to pick out flashes of light that are only a billionth of a second long.
News - 11 April 2006
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It is looking increasingly unlikely that the red particles in rain that fell over southern India in 2001 are alien microbes, but their identity remains a mystery
News - 31 March 2006
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The idea that giant planets close to stars will have destroyed any rocky havens for life may be wrong, suggesting targets for future searches
Breaking News - 31 March 2006
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It is looking increasingly unlikely that the red particles in rain that fell over southern India in 2001 are alien microbes, but their identity remains a mystery
News - 31 March 2006
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The best place to look for the earliest signs of life on Earth is not on our planet at all
Features - 05 April 2006
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Microbes from Earth could have journeyed to Saturn's moon and may even be thriving there, new simulations suggest
News - 25 March 2006
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Was the bizarre red rain that fell over India over two months in 2001 actually alien microbes that hitched a ride to Earth on a comet? Just maybe.
Features - 02 March 2006
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As NASA bins plans for a costly mission to find Earth-like planets, a novel scheme emerges that aims to deliver the goods at a fraction of the cost
Breaking News - 15 March 2006
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Its the idea that life on Earth was seeded from space - which means the same life could exist across the universe
The Word - 07 March 2006
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An experimental container aboard the disintegrating shuttle endured temperatures in excess of 175°C, yet one type of bacteria thrived
News - 06 March 2006
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How does life get started? Where might we look for alien organisms? Paul Davies is intrigued by a new take on the great unsolved questions in biology
Review - 15 February 2006
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Saturn's moon Enceladus, with its newly discovered near-surface water, has just become the hottest property in astrobiology
Editorial - 18 March 2006
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Enceladus is brimming with liquid water, the Cassini probe has revealed, and cannot be ruled out as a distant outpost of life
News - 18 March 2006
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An experimental container aboard the disintegrating shuttle endured temperatures in excess of 175°C, yet one type of bacteria thrived
News - 06 March 2006
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Was the bizarre red rain that fell over India over two months in 2001 actually alien microbes that hitched a ride to Earth on a comet? Just maybe.
Features - 02 March 2006
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Most of the stars in the galaxy are born alone and live their lives in isolation, a controversial new analysis suggests all the better for alien life-forms
Breaking News - 27 January 2006
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Astronomers find the first evidence that some of the organic building blocks of life can exist in an Earth-like orbit around a Sun-like star
Breaking News - 22 December 2005
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Hunting for organic compounds is not the only way to find life on the Red Planet there could be clues in the make-up of Martian rocks
Breaking News - 05 January 2006
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If a creator wanted to leave us a message, where would it be? Why, in the cosmic microwave background, of course
Features - 23 December 2005
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The wisdom of alien civilisations may be just a mouse click away - New Scientist explores Stephen Wolfram's novel route to finding ET
Features - 26 November 2005
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The discovery of methane-producing microbes in harsh conditions on Earth supports the idea that similar bugs could explain the methane detected on Mars
Breaking News - 07 December 2005
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More than a thousand planets reminiscent of Tatooine - Luke Skywalker's hypnotic world with multiple suns - could be lurking in our galactic neighbourhood
Breaking News - 19 November 2005
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It endured two weeks exposed to the harsh space environment before returning unscathed, showing that life may be able to travel between planets
Breaking News - 10 November 2005
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Astronomers have located a crater on Mars where the rock - claimed to contain fossilised microbes - may have originated
Breaking News - 16 September 2005
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Abducted: How people come to believe they were kidnapped by aliens by Susan Clancy, reviewed by Chris French
Review - 22 October 2005
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Life's building blocks appear to lurk in every corner of the galaxy, according to new readings by the Spitzer Space Telescope
News - 24 October 2005
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What if extraterrestrial life existed in the past and has since vanished. We need a way to identify alien fossils - this is astropalaeobiology
Books - 17 September 2005
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New experiments find that the molecular building blocks of life on Earth may have taken shape in space - also bolstering the case for life on other planets
Breaking News - 24 August 2005
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The Red Planet may be making the gas at far higher rates than thought, possibly hinting at life but dust storms and magma may have a role too
Breaking News - 02 August 2005
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An expert panel says NASA must clean up its act - and its spacecraft - to prevent terrestrial microbes from setting up house on the Red Planet
Breaking News - 28 July 2005
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The chemical signature of microbial life could be hidden in readings taken by the Huygens probe on Saturn's giant moon, researchers suggest
Breaking News - 23 July 2005
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The first detailed study of the Red Planet's thermal history reveals a forbidding, frozen world where life may never have taken hold
Breaking News - 21 July 2005
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Designers of planetary exploration robots are turning to the creatures around them for inspiration
Technology - 23 July 2005
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Remarkable oases in Mexico echo the primitive conditions on Earth half a billion years ago, when life took its greatest leap forward
Features - 02 July 2005
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Is life a freak of chemistry unique to Earth? Is life inevitable? Could it survive interplanetary travel? Paul Davies reviews an impressive round-up of the field
Books - 25 June 2005
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A NASA panel says the possibility of dangerous life on Mars must be ruled out before sending astronauts a robotic sample return mission is needed
Breaking News - 20 June 2005
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The planet, just seven or eight times as massive as Earth, is found circling a nearby star - similar discoveries look set to follow
Breaking News - 14 June 2005
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A new system scans an astronaut's field of vision and automatically picks out intriguing rocks to sample, reducing the need for geological training
Technology - 16 June 2005
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If cellphones get the thumbs-up for use on aircraft, detecting intelligent life on other planets will get a lot harder, astronomers warn
News - 18 June 2005
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Space missions looking for other Earths around distant stars could be fooled into seeing them where none exist, thanks to misleading comets
Breaking News - 06 June 2005
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Worlds swathed in photosynthesising microbes may reflect more near-infrared light than barren planets - a potential beacon for life
Breaking News - 27 May 2005
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Bugs hitching to Mars on spacecraft could survive in some circumstances, a new study suggests, providing a warning to missions searching for life there
Breaking News - 02 June 2005
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The dust ring seen circling the star may be caused by regular rock collisions - it would be the first asteroid belt spotted around a star like our own
Breaking News - 21 April 2005
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Impacts on the Red Planet could have created warm, life-promoting pockets of water that persisted for hundreds of thousands of years
News - 16 April 2005
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Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy for SETI might be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars
News - 12 April 2005
