Are We Alone? Edinburgh Decides

On Monday, I took part in a debate about the existence of extraterrestrial life.  The Motion was:  “Will we find life beyond ours in the next 100 years?”  Sounds like a tall order? Maybe not…

International Journal of Astrobiology’s Most Read Free to View

I’ve just received an email stating that the International Journal of Astrobiology is offering free access to its most read papers of 2009. So have a look and see – there’s some really interesting research going on there.  And this post is not in the least bit self-serving either!

Space Station a waste of Space? Have Your Say

It is the largest artificial satellite known to exist – the result of an impressive international collaboration involving all the major players in space exploration.  But what now?

And Finally: Today’s TV Guide

This will be my last post before the festive season.  So until 2010, I heartily recommend that you catch the latest episode of Horizon.  Now, I’m not normally a fan of the series – they have a habit of turning science into relentless melodrama (see their episode about Gamma Ray Bursts to see what I mean – John Shrapnel’s narration only heightens the sense of dizzying hysteria they attempted to evoke).  However, their latest effort rents its credibility from the highest source – the legend that is David Attenborough.  David talks about the problems of human population.  We’re fast approaching 7 billion on the planet – how many more can we handle?  The program is a balanced, yet still jaw-dropping account of how far we are living outside our means.

Thanks for reading, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Copenhagen is About More than Destroying the Planet

Yes, that’s right agitators and antagonists, we shouldn’t be going green just because we think we are scarring the planet.  The “climategate” saga has laid bare the complications of discussing detailed scientific practice in loose, potentially ambiguous terms, but I’m not interested in that.  I’m especially disinterested in the uproar it has caused, the calling into question of decades of unassailable data based on the wording of stolen emails that could have been more carefully written.  There is a much deeper question underlying all of this: why are we trying to go green in the first place?