The Copernican Principle, named in honor of Nicolaus Copernicus (who proposed the heliocentric model of the Universe), states that Earth and humans do not occupy a special or privileged place in the Universe. In cosmological terms, this essentially means that Earth is representative of the norm, and life is likely to exist throughout the cosmos. While our efforts to find …
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For decades, scientists engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) have probed the galaxy for signs of artificial radio transmissions. Beginning with Project Ozma in 1960, astronomers have used radio antennas to listen for possible transmissions from other star systems or galaxies. These efforts culminated in January 2016 with the launch of Breakthrough Listen, the most comprehensive SETI effort …
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When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Magnetic minerals locked inside artifacts from ancient civilizations reveal a snapshot of Earth’s magnetic field at the time. That, in turn, could give us insights into its future. | Credit: Wei-An Jin In 2008, Erez Ben-Yosef unearthed a piece of Iron Age “trash” …
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In 2008, Erez Ben-Yosef unearthed a piece of Iron Age “trash” and inadvertently revealed the strongest magnetic-field anomaly ever found. Ben-Yosef, an archaeologist at Tel Aviv University, had been working in southern Jordan with Ron Shaar, who was analyzing archaeological materials around the Levant. Shaar, a geologist at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was building a record of the area’s …
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