With a growing number of Earth-like exoplanets discovered in recent years, it is becoming increasingly frustrating that we can’t visit them. After all, our knowledge of the planets in our own solar system would be pretty limited if it weren’t for the space probes we’d sent to explore them.
With an estimated lifespan of 400 years, the Greenland shark has just been reported to be the longest-lived vertebrate on the planet. This is only the latest of a series of recent findings that push the boundaries of animal longevity, and it raises the perennial question of what factors enable some animals to achieve what we might call extreme longevity – lifespans that can be measured in centuries.
Scientists have long tried to explain the origin of a mysterious, large and anomalously cold region of the sky. In 2015, they came close to figuring it out as a study showed it to be a “supervoid” in which the density of galaxies is much lower than it is in the rest of the universe. However, other studies haven’t managed to replicate the result.
In our search for extraterrestrial life, we tend to look at ‘conventional’ Earth-Like exoplanets, searching for atmospheres for recognizable bio-signatures. This makes sense, after all, we only have one sample of a life hosting planet in the universe. Still, it could be smart to also look at different indicators, as alien life might use dissimilar chemistry to our own. In a new study, scientists argue to broaden our search. Professor of Planetary Geosciences, David Rothery, explores the topic in this article.
