Some of the greatest human minds are scanning the universe, with a range of increasingly powerful telescopes, in the search for extraterrestrial life. The universe is unimainably vast-how could we be both only ones?
He continues, “There’s special interest in possible ‘twins’ of our Earth—planets the same size as ours, orbiting other Sun-like stars, on orbits with temperatures such that water neither boils nor stays frozen. The Kepler spacecraft has identified many of these, and we can confidently infer that there are billions in our galaxy.
“Within 20 years the next generation of telescopes will image the nearest of these planets. Will there be life on them?”
Of course, it’s intelligent life that we’re most fervently searching for. As Dr Stephen Webb, physicist at the University of Portsmouth, USA, puts it, “One recent estimate from an international team of astronomers suggested that the galaxy might contain as many as 100 billion habitable, Earth-like planets. There are about 500 billion galaxies in the universe, and so there might be as many as 50 sextillion potential homes for life. That’s a five followed by 22 zeros. Surely we can’t be the only intelligent species?”
In his book If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens...Where Is Everybody?, Webb looks for an explanation for this paradox. He first considers whether intelligent aliens could already be here in our solar system.
Could E.T. already be home?
Denne historien er fra July 2018-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
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Denne historien er fra July 2018-utgaven av Reader's Digest India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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From the King's Table to Street Food: A Food History of Delhi
Pushpesh Pant, one of India’s pre-eminent food writers, is back with a comprehensive food history of the capital.
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The Best And Worst Diets For Your Heart
Dozens of diets are touted as ‘best’, but it’s easy to lose track of the fact that healthy eating needs to be about overall wellness, not just weight loss.
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SWITCHED
In 1962, nurses at a small Canadian hospital sent home two women with the wrong babies. Then, 50 years later, their children discovered the shocking mistake.
ECHOES OF THE PAST
A VISIT TO THE ANCIENT BARABAR CAVES IN BIHAR REVEALS A SURPRISING CONNECTION TO A LITERARY CLASSIC
Fathers of the Bride
A young woman finds a unique way to honour the many men who helped her survive her childhood
Fiction's Foresight
British-Bangladeshi author Manzu Islam's works reveal startling parallels to recent political upheavals in Bangladesh, begging the question: Besides helping us make sense of our world, can stories also offer a glimpse into the future?
It Happens ONLY IN INDIA
The Divine Defence Picture this: A tractor in Rajasthan‘s Banswara district,a group of loan agents closing in to seize it and the defaulting farmer and his family standing by.
