Alien invasions, a lesbian road movie and tropical architecture – the best things to watch and do this week: This article was first published in our email newsletter Something Good, which every fortnight brings you a summary of the best things to watch, visit and read, as recommended and analysed by academic experts. Click here …
UFOs: how astronomers are searching the sky for alien probes near Earth: There has been increased interest in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) ever since the Pentagon’s 2021 report revealed what appears to be anomalous objects in US airspace, dubbed unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Fast forward to 2023, and Nasa has already formed a panel to …
Seti: how we’re searching for alien life at previously unexplored frequencies: Nasa Is there life beyond Earth? The question has turned out to be one of the hardest to answer in science. Despite the seemingly boundless expanse of the universe, which implies there’s potential for abundant life, the vast distances between stars render the search …
Carl Sagan detected life on Earth 30 years ago – here’s how his experiment is helping us search for alien species today: Earth and Moon as seen by the Galileo spacecraft from a distance of 6 million km away. NASA It’s been 30 years since a group of scientists led by Carl Sagan found evidence …
Invasive alien species are a serious threat to the planet: 4 key messages for Africa: Climate change has negatively – and irreversibly, in some cases – affected ecosystems around the globe. Sadly, though, it is not the only phenomenon that’s altering our natural world. In 2019, the Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem …
How to prove you’ve discovered alien life – new research: In 2021, scientists thought they had discovered phosphine in the clouds of Venus. NASA In the past few decades, several phenomena have led to excited speculation in the scientific community that they might indeed be indications that there is extraterrestrial life. It will no doubt …
Physicist who found spherical meteor fragments claims they may come from an alien spaceship – here’s what to make of it: Anybody out there? Triff/Shutterstock, CC BY-SA Avi Loeb, a physicist from Harvard University in the US, has recovered 50 tiny spherical iron fragments from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that he claims may be …
An element essential to life discovered on one of Saturn’s moons, raising hopes of finding alien microbes: Ice particles, with just a trace of phosphates, venting from near Enceladus's south pole, as imaged by Cassini in 2010. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Enceladus is the tiny moon of Saturn that seems to have it all. Its icy …
How Alien mutated from a sci-fi horror film into a multimedia universe: A new life form was born on May 25 1979 when an alien exploded from the chest of a bewildered officer aboard the commercial towing vessel, Nostromo. The alien that comes to be known as the xenomorph escapes, grows, stalks and kills all …
Seti: alien hunters get a boost as AI helps identify promising signals from space: The new study analysed data gathered at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. Shutterstock An international team of researchers looking for signs of intelligent life in space have used artificial intelligence (AI) to reveal eight promising radio signals in data …
Four ways to spot hints of alien life using the James Webb Space Telescope: An artist's impression of planet Gliese 667 Cc at sunset. ESO/L. Calçada, CC BY The study of exoplanets, worlds which orbit stars other than our sun, is currently being transformed by the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). We will shortly …
Earth’s oxygen has varied dramatically over time – here’s how our data could help us spot alien life: NASA Are we alone in the universe? This is a question that has intrigued humans for centuries and inspired countless studies and works of fiction. But are we getting closer to finding this out? Now that the …
Frank Drake has passed away but his equation for alien intelligence is more important than ever: The spiral galaxy M74 imaged by the NASA/ESA JWST. ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team., CC BY-NC-ND How many intelligent civilisations should there be in our galaxy right now? In 1961, the US astrophysicist Frank …
Alien species are moving across oceans faster: climate change will accelerate this: The brown mussel has retracted its range in South Africa due to decreasing seawater temperatures. Olga Ernst/ Wikimedia Commons Oceans and coastlines have been subjected to human use for centuries. But the effects of human activity on the oceans are now more extensive, …
Removing alien plants can save water: we measured how much: Alien trees threaten biodiversity, increase the risk of wildfires and also guzzle water. Photo courtesy Cape Winelands Biosphere Reserve Humans’ relationship with nature is broken. We’re transforming the Earth so dramatically that almost one million plant and animals species face extinction. Losing species unravels the …
Clearing alien trees can help reduce climate change impact on Cape Town’s water supply: Alien pine trees, which use substantially more water than the native vegetation of the Cape Mountains, reduce river flows to dams that supply the city's water. Martin Kleynhans Droughts in water scarce regions are being aggravated by human-driven climate change. While …
The macaque monkeys of Mauritius: an invasive alien species, and a major export for research: Macaques are regarded as alien species in Mauritius. Fabian Faber/Shutterstock Macaque monkeys live as both captive and wild animals on the island of Mauritius. The wild population number is estimated at between 25,000 and 35,000 animals, it’s uncertain how many …
How changing levels of iron shaped the evolution of life on Earth – and why alien hunters should take note: Early Earth on the left, had seas infused with life-enhancing iron, whereas Earth today, seen on the right, does not. Credit: Image courtesy of Mark A. Garlick / markgarlick.com, Author provided Our red blood is …