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| A Strategy to Search for Life on Mars |
| Topic: Mars |
11/11/10 |
| One of the reasons NASA sends so many missions to Mars is because of the planet´s potential for life. Current missions search for factors thought to be necessary for life, such as liquid water and organic molecules, but some scientists now say the search for life itself should be the highest priority for the next decade of Mars robotic probes. |
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| Close Encounter with Comet Hartley 2 |
| Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids |
11/05/10 |
| NASA's EPOXI spacecraft flew by comet Hartley 2, and the images it captured show a peanut-shaped nucleus with many jets of gas spewing from its surface. Studying comets like Hartley 2 can help astrobiologists determine if comets played a role in the origin of life on Earth. |
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| Thawing a Planet-Sized Snowball |
| Topic: Earth |
11/04/10 |
| The Earth has plunged into a deep freeze several times in the past, with ice covering the land and sea for millions of years. Researchers are studying how the planet eventually escaped these cold spells, and whether Earth-like planets elsewhere in the galaxy may be susceptible to the same climate catastrophe. |
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| The Continuing Controversy of the Mars Meteorite |
| Topic: Mars |
10/21/10 |
| The fight continues over a meteorite that some say contains evidence of past life on Mars. Both sides claim to wield Occam's razor, believing that biology – or anything but – provides the simplest explanation of the Mars rock´s many strange features. |
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| Stem Cells: The Next Generation |
| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
10/14/10 |
| Embryonic stem cells behave differently outside the pull of Earth's gravity, researchers suggest. These findings indicate why the human body deteriorates during long space missions, and warn that procreation in space may be fraught with peril. |
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| Doubt Cast on Existence of Habitable Alien World |
| Topic: New Planets |
10/12/10 |
| Last month, astronomers announced the discovery of the first potentially habitable extrasolar planet. But at an astronomy meeting this week, doubts were raised about whether this new planet really exists. |
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| Airplanes Could Unlock Mars Mysteries |
| Topic: Mars |
10/07/10 |
| There are regions on Mars where the ground is much too rugged for a rover to explore. Instead, a robotic, rocket-powered airplane could be the ideal way to investigate some of these intriguing but as-yet inaccessible areas. |
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| Stepping Stones through Time |
| Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life |
10/04/10 |
| Stromatolites are the most ancient fossils on Earth, and these structures built by microbes can still be found forming today in various places around the globe. Although they provide a straight line of life´s history from the past to the present, comparing modern and ancient stromatolites is not a straight-forward endeavor. |
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| Astronomer Seeks ET Machines |
| Topic: Alien Life |
10/01/10 |
| If we ever do receive a message from outer space, we´ll want to know what kind of aliens sent it. SETI researcher Seth Shostak says we shouldn´t expect them to be anything like us – in fact, they might not be biological at all, but instead, extraterrestrial machines. |
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| Synthetic Life Could Aid Space Exploration |
| Topic: Moon to Mars |
09/23/10 |
| When packing for a manned mission to Mars or the Moon, the best thing to bring may not be food or fuel, but specially-designed organisms that can create those things for you. |
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