(the first of a series of articles on this subject) From the time man first realized the immensity of our universe, scientists have been wondering why we have not yet found any evidence of intelligent life somewhere out there. As our telescopes and related technology have improved, the mystery has deepened—because the odds against our [...]

Imagine you are seventy years old and showing (and feeling) your age. The year is 2017. You have money and/or friends in high places, so you get an appointment at the Return-to-Youth Clinic. After a brief stay in the waiting room, you are taken to the preparation room to lie on a hospital bed. An [...]

When Mother Nature got life started on Earth, 4.7 billion years ago, her formula was beautifully simple – she made life self-replicating according to a ‘recipe’ encoded within the cell. Her masterstroke was to make the recipe copying process almost error-proof. A very high degree of copying accuracy was needed – otherwise life would forever [...]

Armstrong’s famous words as he stepped on to the moon’s surface were historic for many reasons. Above all, it was the first time in the history of our species that the world’s human population was united in pride. It was a ‘we’ event of enormous proportions. Although an American expedition, inspired in large part by the [...]