For those who missed my post on 1 April 2016 here is a re-blog of the amazing discovery of the first intelligent alien life. ---Original post below News is just reaching us of the most amazing astronomical discovery which I am ever likely to experience in my lifetime, one which I never thought I would see. As regular… Continue reading An amazing discovery
Tag: Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life
Methane on Mars
I was very excited to read about the discovery published last week by NASA’s Curiosity rover of the seasonal variation in the amount of methane in Mars’ atmosphere. Curiosity found that the average methane concentration varied from 0.24 parts per billion (ppb) in the northern hemisphere winter to around 0.65 ppb in the summer. This… Continue reading Methane on Mars
The Rare Earth hypothesis
Updated 15 December 2025 Ever since the pioneering work of Frank Drake (1930-2022) way back in 1960, astronomers have been looking for radio signals from extraterrestrial civilisations but all SETI searches have failed to find anything. This could be because Earth-like planets containing complex life forms (such as ourselves) are rare in the Universe and only… Continue reading The Rare Earth hypothesis
A Christmas gift from Explaining Science 2017
Christmas is almost upon us. Once again I'm offering my e-books for free during the first five days of December! Just call me Father Christmas :-). "Is Anyone Out There?" is about the likelihood of there being extraterrestrial intelligent life. It is based on a number of posts from my blog. For readers based in the UK the… Continue reading A Christmas gift from Explaining Science 2017
Voyager 40th anniversary
Nearly 40 years ago, on 20 August 1977, the Voyager 2 space probe was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to study the Solar System's four outermost planets. It was followed 15 days later by the launch of an identical spacecraft, Voyager 1. The Voyager spacecraft -Image from NASA Although Voyager 1 was… Continue reading Voyager 40th anniversary
Explaining Science 