LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING
Life may be the ultimate enigma. How did it start? Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Why does the universe itself seem uncannily suited to life? In this issue of Cosmos we delve into these perplexing conundrums and reveal some startling new findings. Also with this issue is LifeLab, an exclusive interactive DVD produced in association with Cosmos, the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at Macquarie University and NASA. With LifeLab you can look for the origins of life on Earth and explore Mars and the rest of the Solar System looking for traces of life. |
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LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING
If the basic laws of the universe were just slightly different, life and everything we know would not be possible. So why is the universe just right for life? Paul Davies takes a closer look.
ARE WE ALONE?
There could be more than 200 extraterrestrial civilisations in our galaxy humming away right now. Tim Dean wonders where they are and why we haven't heard from them yet.
LIFE ON EARTH
Our planet was once an inhospitable and desolate place, and yet it was here that life arose. But when? Seth Shostak searches for answers in the remote outback of northwest Australia.
EMPIRE OF THE SUN
Solar technologies have been around for years, but the market is suddenly scorching. Bob Johnstone asks, could this be the dawn of the solar age?
APOCALYPSE GAIA
James Lovelock, father of the famed Gaia hypothesis, tells Robin McKie why we have to act now — before the Earth Goddess wreaks her vengeance upon us.
OPAL: AUSTRALIA'S NEW RESEARCH REACTOR
Australia has a new research reactor that is rated among the world's best. So what's the fuss all about? In this 16-page special report, Heather Catchpole provides a detailed behind-the-scenes view of Australia's advanced new research reactor.
International Polar Year began in March 2007. To celebrate its spectacular beauty we bring you a photographic journey across some of the world's coldest, driest places — which are also highly sensitive to climate change.
At an ungodly hour of the morning in early 1992, a young Charles Lineweaver hurtled through the darkness on his bicycle, having just discovered evidence of the oldest, largest and most distant structures in the universe.
Can you really create a ballet around the potential benefits, and dangers, posed by embryonic stem cells?
Geophagia, the habit of snacking on soil, is stigmatised in the West as a disorder, yet taken for granted in other societies.
Does online romance mean rewriting the rituals of finding a partner? It all comes down to trust.
A new matchbox-sized device is giving biologists an unprecedented peek into the hitherto hidden lives of endangered animals in their natural habitats.
Is it possible to preserve the archaeological value of human remains while respecting the cultural rights of indigenous groups?
How to keep healthy in space? Along with the dangers of radiation and the difficulties of dealing with medical emergencies, there are the lasting effects of zero-g on the human body to consider.
Thomas Edison paid his staff scandalously little, invented almost nothing yet took all the credit — but that's not how history remembers him.
Astronomy historian and psychiatrist William Sheehan journeys to Easter Island and Patagonia to ponder the big questions of evolution, civilisation and extraterrestrial life.
Reflections on life, the universe and everything.
Letters, and new from the Cosmos team.
Short science bites for a fast read.
The science of running shoes.
"Centenary" by Stephen Dedman.
Reviews of books and DVDs.
Going into space will save our world and ensure humanity's survival, argues Wilson da Silva.
