An insect’s physical shape and characteristics indicate which species it belongs to, but sometimes species appear remarkably similar. DNA technologies can help identify and discover species.
Pam Grier as vigilante nurse Coffy who seeks to punish drug dealers and corrupt officials.
Allstar Picture Library Ltd / Alamy
Coffy saw Pam Grier as the main propulsive force in a Blaxploitation movie, breaking ground for later female roles such as Ripley in Alien, Sarah Connor in Terminator and Nakia in Black Panther.
NASA’s UAP study team and newly appointed director of UAP research represent growing efforts to study and declassify UFO-related data.
AP Photo/Terry Renn
Months after a military officer made sensational claims about unexplained objects in the skies, NASA released a report loosely outlining a scientific approach for analyzing UAP reports.
The xenomorph from Ridley Scott’s 1979 classic, Alien.
AJ Pics/Alamy
Anti-black violence exists against the backdrop of the political and cultural dehumanization of Black people. How did this happen and where do we go from here?
Immigration minister David Coleman last year cancelled the visas of two Indigenous Australian men.
AAP Image/James Gourley
The ability to remove an Indigenous person from their traditional country shows how Australia is still asserting colonial power over the identity of its First Peoples.
For the first time, an instrument orbiting Mars and a rover on the surface have detected methane simultaneously – raising hopes for finding life on the red planet.
What is it that makes films about sharks so popular?
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.
Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, and Professor of Political Science, Charles Sturt University