NASA has announced two potential plans for retrieving rocks from Mars that may contain evidence of alien life. Since 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover has been busy collecting rocks and sediments in an ancient Martian lakebed. However, NASA isn’t sure how to get these samples back to Earth for analysis. The original Mars Sample Return Program […]
Scientists have discovered that an “alien plant” first found near a Utah ghost town 55 years ago doesn’t appear to be related to any currently living family or genus. Paleontologists first found fossilized leaf specimens of the plant in 1969 and named it Othniophyton elongatumwhich translates to “alien plant.” At the time, they believed the […]
Scientists’ best theories on how planets form could be wrong, new research suggests. Astronomers studying a still-forming planet beyond our solar system have found that its chemical makeup doesn’t fully match the swirling gas and dust disk from which it formed. The finding challenges standard models of planet formation and implies they may be overly […]
We have only one example of biology forming in the universe — life on Earth. But what if life can form in other ways? How do you look for alien life when you don’t know what alien life might look like? These questions are preoccupying astrobiologistswho are scientists who look for life beyond Earth. Astrobiologists […]
One night about 60 years ago, physicist Enrico Fermi looked up into the sky and asked, “Where is everybody?” He was talking about aliens. Today, scientists know that there are millions, perhaps billions of planets in the universe that could sustain life. So, in the long history of everything, why hasn’t any of this life […]
This week, I went to a theater to watch a showing of the black-and-white version of Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves. Old-heads like me may recall it as a bad mid-90s cyberpunk film (written by William Gibson!) about a data courier whose brain is the storage medium, but who had to have his childhood memories […]
“There are rumors that have come up to the Hill of a secretive project within the Department of Defense involving the manipulation of human genetics with what is described as nonhuman genetic material potentially for the enhancement of human capabilities,” Boebert said. Boebert did not explain the source of the “rumors” but what she described […]
As the electronic signals from our planet expand ever outwards into space, the world is marking 50 years since humanity broadcast its first radio message intended to get a response from the stars. No reply has been received, and none is expected for millennia, at least. But the form of this message, and others, raises […]
It’s time to dust off your VCR and clean the heads, because Alien: Romulus is coming to VHS as a limited edition on December 3rd alongside the other physical releases, director Fede Alvarez announced during “a special Beyond Fest-partnered screening” in Los Angeles yesterday. The “fully functioning VHS tape” is meant to celebrate 45 years […]
From the decimation of reproductive rights to pardons for people convicted of participating in the 2021 attack on the Capitol, there are many, many reasons to fear Donald Trump winning another term in office. Extremely high up on that list? His vow to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” which he […]
