As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

life

Is Mars Hiding Life Under the Surface? – Live Science

by
Insight - NASA

To find life on Mars, scientists may need to give up surface exploration and “go deep.” Typically, Mars missions searching for signs of life target the planet’s surface, at sites where there are signs of ancient water (a reliable indicator of where life is found on Earth). But while no life has turned up yet on Mars’ surface, there may be an abundance of microbial Martians congregating underground, according to research presented Dec. 11 here at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). In recent decades, explorations underground on Earth have revealed the so-called deep biosphere — a … Read more

SPACE: Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Purple

by
purple planet - pixabay

Alien life might be purple. That’s the conclusion of a new research paper that suggests that the first life on Earth might have had a lavender hue. In the International Journal of Astrobiology, microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and postdoctoral researcher Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside, argue that before green plants started harnessing the power of the sun for energy, tiny purple organisms figured out a way to do the same. Alien life could be thriving in the same way, DasSarma said. “Astronomers have discovered thousands of new extrasolar planets recently … Read more

SCIENCE: The Real, Freaky Experiments That Inspired “Frankenstein”

by
Frankenstein experiments

On Jan. 17 1803, a young man named George Forster was hanged for murder at Newgate prison in London. After his execution, as often happened, his body was carried ceremoniously across the city to the Royal College of Surgeons, where it would be publicly dissected. What actually happened was rather more shocking than simple dissection though. Forster was going to be electrified. The experiments were to be carried out by the Italian natural philosopher Giovanni Aldini, the nephew of Luigi Galvani, who discovered “animal electricity” in 1780, and for whom the field of galvanism is named. With Forster on the … Read more

SPACE: Was There Life on the Moon?

by
moon - NASA

Did life ever exist on the moon? Maybe! Have scientists found evidence of life on the moon? Definitely not. Why are we talking about this? A new paper was published online today (July 23) in the journal Astrobiology with a thrilling headline: “Was There An Early Habitability Window for Earth’s Moon?” Its associated press release had an even more exciting title: “Researcher sees possibility of moon life.” Wowza! This is genuinely cool stuff. But it’s important to understand what it’s really saying and what it’s not. The paper, written by a pair of astrobiologists from Birkbeck College in London and the Technical University of … Read more

SPACE: NASA May Have Discovered Evidence of Life On Mars. Then They Set It On Fire.

by
Mars - Pixabay

In the late 1970s, two Viking robots sailed to Mars, pillaged the soil and burnt any traces of life they found. That was never the plan, of course. When NASA first landed the twin spacecraft named Viking 1 and Viking 2 on the surface of Mars 40 years ago, scientists were ecstatic to finally start studying Martian soil for signs of organic (carbon-based) molecules that could prove the Red Planet was hospitable for life. It should’ve been a slam-dunk mission. The pockmarked face of Mars was constantly being pelted with tiny, carbon-rich meteorites, after all — detecting signs of that … Read more

STUDY: When Robots Beg For Their Lives

by
robot - pixabay

Robots designed to interact socially with humans are slowly becoming more and more common. They’re appearing as receptionists, tour guides, security guards, and porters. But how good are we at treating these robots as robots? A growing body of evidence suggests not good at all. Studies have repeatedly shown we’re extremely susceptible to social cues coming from machines, and a recent experiment by German researchers demonstrates that people will even refuse to turn a robot off — if it begs for its life. In the study, published in the open access journal PLOS One, 89 volunteers were recruited to complete … Read more

Trailer: LIFE

by
Life trailer

The first trailer for LIFE, a sci-fi thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds, has just been released. Based on a script penned by Paul Wernick (Deadpool, Zombieland) and directed by Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), LIFE follows a group of six astronauts/scientists aboard the International Space Station who retrieve the first known sample of life on Mars. However, what they first believe to be a simple organism turns out to be more intelligent (and dangerous) than they expected. Fans of eerie sci-fi films thrillers will undoubtedly see some allusions to LIFE‘s cinematic antecedents (Sphere, for instance, comes to mind). But … Read more

News: Are We the Only Living Things in the Universe?

by
Alone in the Universe?

With billions and billions of stars in our universe and up to 400 billion in our Milky Way Galaxy alone, you’d think we’d have already seen signs of other life on at least one of the other habitable planets that are sure to be spread throughout the cosmos. So where are all the aliens? This colorfully animated video has a few theories. See the full story at Towleroad.com