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The search for extraterrestrial intelligence

From The Space Review, Jeff Foust on SETI at 50. Alien life: The discovery of life on other planets may be just around the corner — but will we recognise it when we see it? Whether alien culture resembles our own depends on one big question: do they have sex? If we ever find aliens, there's a good chance they'll be intelligent machines, not biological systems as we know them. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence: An interview with astronomer Seth Shostak. SETI's challenge to religion: Would encountering intelligence elsewhere in the universe be a problem for anthropocentric religions? More of The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence by Paul Davies. The discovery of potentially habitable planets beyond our solar system is imminent, but no one really knows when we might learn whether any of those distant worlds are inhabited. What is "super Earth"? Scientists have discovered a planet only slightly larger than the Earth orbiting a distant star — could it host life? The space-shuttle program is coming to a quiet end — is the same true for the era of space exploration? Now is the time to prepare for people to go out and explore space — why? Because it’s there! The European Space Agency and Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems plan to simulate a 520-day mission to Mars. Advertising the early space race: Brian Doherty on the men who sold the Moon. A review of Mirage Men: An Adventure into Paranoia, Espionage, Psychological Warfare, and UFOs by Mark Pilkington.