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marine life

Why sending messages to extraterrestrials is controversial

Space

Why sending messages to extraterrestrials is controversial

If there are intelligent aliens out there, should we try to get in touch with them? And who should speak for Earth, asks professor of astronomy Chris Impey

Comment

Life

The hunt for the South Island kōkako, New Zealand’s long-lost bird

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Unicellular green algae with large cells.; Shutterstock ID 1042159933; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Life

Why the origins of life remain a mystery – and how we will crack it

Features

Long spined sea urchins underwater on seabed of the Caribbean sea

Life

Surprising culprit found that killed 95% of a sea urchin population

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Plankton are organisms drifting in oceans and seas. Zooplankton.

Environment

Geoengineering the seas could be catastrophic for marine life

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Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) grows in a thick, underwater forest near the Channel Islands in California. This area is part of a National Park and is teeming with thousands of marine species.

Life

Kelp forests capture nearly 5 million tonnes of CO2 annually

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Rubbish pulled from the great Pacific garbage patch

Environment

Great Pacific Garbage Patch hosts stable community of coastal animals

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Space

What are the prospects for life on the icy moons Europa and Enceladus?

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Mysterious deep-sea holes may be burrows of tiny shrimp-like creatures

Life

Mysterious deep-sea holes may be burrows of tiny shrimp-like creatures

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The slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum is used to study the origins of multicellularity

Life

How did multicellular life evolve? Algae and yeast give some hints

Single-celled organisms that cluster and cooperate provide tantalising insights into the origins of multicellularity, suggesting this step may not be so rare after all

Comment

Earth

Oxygen on early Earth may have come from quartz crushed by earthquakes

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Physics

Stephen Hawking's final theorem turns time and causality inside out

Features

Life

Algae-farming fish help coral reefs bounce back from bleaching events

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Humans

See the top shots in the Woman Science Photographer of the Year award

Regulars

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