• more about #comets
    Trai_Dep: ...But if we turn off all our lights at the right time, the comets will whiz past us, thinking no one's home! more »
    squidink: By the time we get to the point where we can colonize another planet, we'll be able to clone as many Bruce Willises as we need to avoid Armageddon. more »
    TotalFanGirl: Bah, there's a solution out there...let's just hope that if we're smart enough to get the center of the galaxy, we will have figured out how to live t... more »
    TemporalSword: Irrelevant. The sheer amount of radiation at the center would fry us long before we got close enough for the comets to get us. Need to solve that prob... more »
    Gustavo Muslera: Twice? that much? When was the last time we got hit by a comet? If tunguska was a comet (ok, was a pretty harmless one) we could stand a couple per ce... more »
    ManchuCandidate: Every day is Armageddon in the Center of the Galaxy. more »
    LittleDragon: Where did the "#23" come from. I will up hold my argument that it is easier to kill us off if we confine our selves to one planet. more »
    mordicai: ...so like...every 30 million years or so? I'm not sure that means it is time to freak out... more »
    GreyHammer: well i mean the comet problem is easy, planatary defense turret platforms in orbit and city sized energy shields as a fail safe. problem solved. more »
    Anekanta - Go Play!: Okay, but how did the amino acids get on the comet? Do they just form in space? It sounds like just about any icy or watery ball of rock floating in... more »
    gorehound: good news post.i love science. more »
    BadUncle: Comets get the best acid. more »
    Rocketknight: Does this mean that comets can contain primitive forms of life or is it literally just the amino acids in no particular configuration? more »
    transbastard: Declaring amino acids and proteins equivalent is rather bold - don't do that. Lots of amino acids do not a protein make! The best you'd get would be a... more »
    Gann: They found legos on a comet? more »
    David Alvaro: Once again, the reporting on actual science here on io9 leaves a lot to be desired. I understand the idea behind this kind of post, to take some drie... more »
    MargaretMoony: Of course they figured it out in Cardiff. It's ALWAYS Cardiff! more »
    Don't Make Me Ang Lee. You wouldn't like me when I'm Ang Lee.: This puts us one step closer to mass acceptance of the Great Green Arkleseizure theory, so I'm all for it! more »
    Relbelle: An intriguing but ultimately moot point. Until we know what actually sparks the creation of life, where precisely it first happened is almost impossi... more »
    icelight: Given that the earliest estimates for cellular life on Earth are at about the 1 billion year mark, how do they envision it arising within a thousandth... more »
  • #cometcollision

    Reason #23 Not To Move To Another Planet: Comets

    According to recent simulations, the idea of making a life for yourself on a planet closer to the center of the galaxy has hit a natural barrier as well as a (lack-of-way-to-get-there-and-survive) technological one: Too many comets. More »
  • #exogenesis

    Building Blocks of Life Found on a Comet

    Score another point for exogenesis, the idea that life on Earth has extraterrestrial origins. For the first time, NASA has identified amino acids in a sample of material from a comet, suggesting a comet may have brought proteins to Earth. More »
  • #exogenesis

    Did Ocean-Filled Comets Carry the Seeds of Life to Earth?

    Critics of exogenesis note that the proper conditions to maintain life are rare in the universe, and would not likely survive the trip inside Earth's atmosphere. But new data on comets offers evidence that our ancestors were, indeed, extraterrestrial. More »
  • #spaceporn

    Catch the Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight

  • #ufos

    Why Heaven's Gate Was the Best UFO Religion Ever

  • #spaceporn

    A Lightshow Worth Freezing Your Ass Off Over

    The super bright Comet McNaught loses its tail among the Southern Lights during a geomagnetic storm over New Zealand, in this photo from Minoru Yoneto. Comet-hunting requires a good telescope, a "Dobsonian reflector," and the willingness to freeze your ass off for hours. But then occasionally you get amazing photos like this one. There are tons more comet pics over at NightSkyHunter.com. [Night Sky Hunter]
  • #spaceporn

    Comet Vs. Comet Around A Dead Star

    A planetary system seems to have survived the death of its star, judging photos released last August from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The Helix Nebula, 700 light years from Earth, is the unraveling remains of a star not unlike our sun. It's also one of the few nebulae to show any evidence of bodies that survived that disaster. More nebula pics, including one that shows battling comets that outlasted the sun's death, after the jump. More »