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Aliens are highly likely to undergo natural selection, shows new research.
Here, an alien crew member, Saru on Star Trek: Discovery. We often rely on science fiction to guide our expectations of alien life. We can hope lessons about accepting beings very different from yourself can be extracted by the series end.
(Courtesy of CBS Studios)
Star Trek: Discovery explores our corner of the block – just a fraction of the galaxy. Some stars are better candidates for intelligent alien life, and it may not be anything like we imagine.
What message would you send to outer space?
NASA/JPL-Caltech
Humanity is the real target for these recordings which continue to inspire us to better understand ourselves and our place in the cosmos.
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Even if alien life is never discovered, all is not lost.
4000 km wide view of Mars’ (colour-coded topgraphy) Coprates Chasma.
NASA/USGS/ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G Neukum)
The volcanoes would be a great place t to search for fossilised microbes.
The ALMA telescope is searching.
ESO/C. Malin
Astronomers in Puerto Rico have picked up signal from a faint star that’s not like anything they’ve seen before.
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Hardy lifeforms such as tardigrades can survive almost anything.
What’s going to happen next in Alien: Covenant?
Twentieth Century Fox
The latest outing of the Alien film franchise pits another human crew against a terrifying enemy. But how does the science stack up?
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In the face of recent political events in Britain and America, sci-fi imaginings of the ‘citizens of the future’ have taken on a new resonance.
There’s got to be a perfectly logical explanation for this.
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Millions of people claim to have had encounters with aliens, but most can be explained by psychology rather than UFOs.
Warner Brothers
In the world of Harry Potter, beasts are to be protected, not feared. But this concern for monsters is hardly modern.
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Mysterious radiation that appears to come from star HD 164595 is more likely to have a terrestrial origin.
Well, maybe.
BagoGames/Flickr
It may make sense for intelligent aliens to have two eyes and ears on one head, and to walk upright. But other particulars – including their colour – are more open to speculation.
Welcome, mates.
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Some argue that it would be impossible to understand an alien language, as it wouldn’t have the same grammar as humans use. But others are more optimistic.
According to a recent poll, 45 percent of Americans believe extraterrestrials have visited the Earth.
Raphael Terra, 'UFO Sunset.'
Whether it’s Hillary Clinton’s courting the UFO vote or Donald Trump’s lending credibility to various conspiracy theories, the “triumph of reason” seems to have gone by the wayside.
We’re on the hunt for life – what do we do when we find it?
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A philosopher argues that now is the time to figure it out, before we make the inevitable discovery of extraterrestrial life.
A laser could hide – or broadcast – our existence.
European Southern Observatory
There are technological ways to hide a planet from intergalactic detection – as well as ways to signal that we’re just sitting here, eager for contact.
Channel Five
In the post-9/11, post-Iraq television landscape we’re familiar with government and terrorist conspiracy shows. How will aliens hold up?
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The alternate reality visualised in Star Wars is now potentially much closer to home.
You know what, I think we looked better before.
clement127/flickr
There are solar-power sea slugs, so why haven’t humans mastered the art of photosynthesis?