Astrobiology, the study of life and its existence in the universe, is one of the hottest areas of scientific research. Lewis Dartnell considers some of the fascinating questions facing researchers today. Could life exist anywhere else in the universe? What might aliens really look like? Dartnell explains why Earth is uniquely suited for life and reveals our profound connection to the cosmos.
Author: lewis
After the May 9th Q’n’A with Xavier Bonfils, one of the astronomers envolved in the discovery of Gliese 581 C, the possibility of the exoplanet gathering the conditions for the existence of life stayed floating in the air. As Bonfils referred, some of the questions were not from his field of study, in consequence of this Lewis Dartnell, from the University College London and author of ‘Life in the Universe: A Beginner’s Guide‘, initiates his participitation as spacEurope’s resident astrobiologist by explaining the astrobiological significance of this new discovery.
We are now less than a month away from the arrival of Phoenix at the Martian arctic plains. Excitement surrounding this unique mission has been mounting steadily since its launch last August, when I last wrote on Phoenix, and at long last the wait is almost over. You can already read on spaceEurope the thoughts of many of the key players intimately involved in the design of the probe and its operation on the frosty martian surface over the coming months, and what I’d like to give here is an insight into what astrobiologists like myself are hoping for.
Building models forms the core of many areas of scientific and engineering research. Essentially, a model is a representation of a complex system that has been simplified in different ways to help understand its behaviour. An aeronautical engineer, for example, might build a miniaturised physical model of a fighter plane to test in a wind tunnel. In modern times, more and more modelling is being performed by computers – running mathematical models at very high rates of calculations. A computer model of the flow of air over a supersonic wing is incredibly sophisticated, but it is based on very basic principles of program design and simulation. In this article, the first half of a two-part feature on model behaviour, we’ll take a look at how simple computer models can be programmed to study some very interesting natural systems as well as focus on how a few scientists are using similar models in their own front-line research.
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Floating around in microgravity inside a spacecraft might look like fun, but it can do nasty things to your body. With the current enthusiasm for crewed space flight and particularly NASA’s plan to send astronauts to Mars, there is a need to find ways to counteract the damaging effects of a lack of gravity.
Cellular Hacking, Motion Camouflage, and Life on Mars.
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Science mutters
Back in February, Martin Luck started a debate over what was natural and what was not. This month, Lewis Dartnell takes up the baton.
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Rap: rivalry and chivalry
Judging by their self-confident lyrics about women and wealth, rappers consider themselves quite a special bunch. And now it’s been proven mathematically that indeed they are, at least as far as their interaction network is concerned. An analysis of the network you get by connecting any two rappers that have performed together shows not only a remarkably close-knit community, but also another feature rarely found in naturally arising networks.
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In the last issue Lewis Dartnell explained how chaos in the brain is not only unavoidable but also beneficial. Now he tells us why the same is true for our solar system and sends us on a journey that has been travelled by comets and spacecraft.
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Adventure sports such as abseiling and skydiving attract enough scare stories, and bungee jumping is no exception. Everyone’s probably heard about the lady killed whilst jumping from a 60m high bridge in Australia because she’d accidentally been tied to a rope 80m long. Or the newly-weds that tried a tandem jump on their honeymoon, but didn’t hold on tightly enough on the way down and cracked face-first back together at the end of the rope. Fortunately, most of these are urban myths and survive only due to their pub-gossip potential rather than their accuracy.
In countless B-movies giant alien insectoids invade the Earth and wreak havoc, trampling through cities and tearing down buildings. Now we puny earthlings are hoping to turn the tables, and send insect-like robots to investigate the surface of Mars.
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Chaos in the Brain
Saying that someone is a chaotic thinker might seems like an insult – but, according to Lewis Dartnell, it could be that the mathematical phenomenon of chaos is a crucial part of what makes our brains work.
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