There is a problem with our approach at the moment when looking for alien civilisations. SETI looks for signals that are sent by the electromagnetic spectrum and their are a lot of frequencies to search. If you pair this with the size of the universe you can see how SETI is really looking for a [...]
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Preventing Contamination from Reaching Planetary Bodies and from Contaminating the Earth
We have been looking for alien life elsewhere in the universe for quite awhile now. Mars has been the main focus of attention and it looks like in the future Europa and Titan will also attract a lot of attention. But how do we know that what we have found is alien life and that [...]
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How Did Those First Organic Molecules Get to Earth?
How did life start? You would be talking to a Nobel prize winner if I could tell you that. Unfortunately nobody knows. There are a few theories around and a few advances have been made in this field but I will talk about the one that is most widely accepted in scientific circles. The starting [...]
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Jupiter Has Another Impact
Just the other month Jupiter was hit by something, possibly an asteroid, and this month seems to be just the same. An amateur astronomer yesterday noticed a large flash when looking at Jupiter which lasted about two seconds. We are quite lucky to have Jupiter in the solar system, not just for looking at, but [...]
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Atmospheres of the Earth and terrestrial planets.
If you don’t know what an atmosphere is then I suggest you find a blog on fashion or similar. Perhaps, though, we think we know what an atmosphere is but do we really? Well, just in case it’s that thin blue line that we see around the Earth when looking at pictures that the International [...]
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How impact craters are formed
This sounds a bit like a no-brainer really; the asteroid or comet crosses the path of Earth and hits the Earth’s surface causing an impact crater. That’s it isn’t it? No, nothing in life is quite as simple as that and the way impactors (asteroids, comets, space stations or astronauts) hit the Earth is quite [...]
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Volcanoes on Earth and Beyond
Volcanoes are one of those great forces of nature that we take almost for granted on Earth. I am not sure that I would take it for granted if I lived right next to a volcano but on the overall scheme of things they are part of the Earth’s make up and mold the Earth [...]
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Plate Tectonics, Hold on! The Surface of the Earth Moves
So why do mountain ranges form, earthquakes happen, volcanoes erupt and Islands appear? Have they been here since the beginning of time perhaps created by a roving asteroid or comet Or perhaps there was a massive collision of two planets when the Earth got formed creating islands and mountains. This is all complete rubbish of [...]
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Part 1:A Cup of Coffee and a Light Speed Tour around the Solar System
Planet Earth is getting boring. You have seen most of the countries and most of the inhabitants and swam beneath the sea, what else is there to do? Admittedly the oceans haven’t been explored to their full extent and some intense exploration needs to be done but sitting down and watching TV you can see [...]
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Moving the Earth Out Of the Way of That Big Bad Sun
I have always wanted to fly around in a spaceship seeing lots of lovely stars and planets and other curious beautiful things that exist out there. To stop getting too frustrated, I have looked on the Earth as a sort of spaceship travelling around giving everyone an eye on the universe. This is okay until [...]
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Solar Power Beamed To Earth From Space?
There are many renewable, green sources of energy one of them being solar power. This can be taken 1 step further by having the solar panels put into space. Obviously that requires a little more, OK a lot more effort than the words imply but would be worth it. There are benefits to outsourcing solar [...]
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Best of the Web-Earth in a Century
What will Earh be like in 100 years? Will global warming mean we all live in warmer climates? A transhumanists views of the future. A seed store that may help us in the future. Podcast (Part 1) The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning by SETI // Join the forum discussion on this post [...]
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Is The Earth Safe From Rocky Demons Above?
Have you ever looked up into the sky and wondered what was going to drop onto your head? When you look up what do you see? Well if I was to do it now I would see a load of black clouds as I live in the rainy UK which tends to give me a [...]
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Where Are All The Civilisations?
What is going on? Where are they all? Are they here? Too many questions and literally too little time. It just seems so really boring that we can be the only ones in this universe. Time is definitely a massive problem when looking for somebody alien to chat to. Does it matter that there are [...]
