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The long-term habitability of Earth-like planets requires low orbital eccentricities. A secular perturbation from a distant stellar companion is a very important mechanism in exciting planetary eccentricities, as many of the extrasolar…
As we now know, there are indeed at least two major difficulties with General Relativity (GR). The first one is related with its incompatibility with quantum mechanics, in the absence of a widely accepted consistent theory that combines the…
It appears paradoxical that science is producing outstanding new results and theories at a rapid rate at the same time that researchers are identifying serious problems in the practice of science that cause many reports to be irreproducible…
We motivate the \^G infrared search for extraterrestrial civilizations with large energy supplies. We discuss some philosophical difficulties of SETI, and how communication SETI circumvents them. We review "Dysonian SETI", the search for…
The development of last years in quantum geometrodynamics highlights new problems which were not obvious in its first formulation proposed by Wheeler and DeWitt. At the first stage the main task was to apply known quantization schemes to…
This short article presents an alternative view of high resolution imaging from various sources with the aim of the discovery of potential sites of archaeological importance, or sites that exhibit `anomalies' such that they may merit closer…
We review the state of the art of f(R) theories of gravity (in their various formulations), which have been proposed as an explanation of the cosmic acceleration alternative to dark energy. The successes of f(R) gravity are discussed,…
Waste heat production represents an inevitable consequence of energy conversion as per the laws of thermodynamics. Based on this fact, by using simple theoretical models, we analyze constraints on the habitability of Earth-like terrestrial…
Like all natural hazards, space weather exhibits occasional extreme events over timescales of decades to centuries. Historical events provoked much interest but had little economic impact. However, the widespread adoption of advanced…
The problem of explaining the acceleration of the expansion of the universe and the observational and theoretical difficulties associated with dark matter and dark energy are discussed. The possibility that Einstein gravity does not…
It is sometimes asserted that the rapidity of biogenesis on Earth suggests that life is common in the Universe. We critically examine the assumptions inherent in this argument. Using a lottery model for biogenesis in the Universe, we…
Cosmological constant a.k.a. dark energy problem is considered to be one major challenge in modern cosmology. Here we present a model where large scale structure formation causes spatially-flat FRW universe to fragment into numerous `FRW…
One of the primary open questions of astrobiology is whether there is extant or extinct life elsewhere the Solar System. Implicit in much of this work is that we are looking for microbial or, at best, unintelligent life, even though…
Despite two decades of tremendous experimental and theoretical progress, the riddle of the accelerated expansion of the Universe remains to be solved. On the experimental side, our understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the…
We have found many Earth-sized worlds but we have no way of determining if their surfaces are Earth-like. This makes it impossible to quantitatively compare habitability, and pretending we can risks damaging the field.
The long-standing debate on the existence of ancient oceans on Mars has been recently revived by evidence for tsunami resurfacing events that date from the Late Hesperian geological era. It has been argued that these tsunami events…
Relentless progress in artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly raising concerns that machines will replace humans on the job market, and perhaps altogether. Eliezer Yudkowski and others have explored the possibility that a promising…
Geometry of the universe has always intrigued mathematicians and cosmologists. Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Project (WMAP) indicate that the visible universe is incredibly flat. This apparent flatness could be due…
We consider the little-known anthropic argument of Fontenelle dealing with the nature of cometary orbits, given a year before the publication of Newton's Principia. This is particularly interesting in view of the rapid development of the…
The implications of technological innovation for sustainability are becoming increasingly complex with information technology moving machines from being mere tools for production or objects of consumption to playing a role in economic…