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...a gift of the gods thus increasing the importance of its presence in ritual events. In modern times scientists will travel the globe in order to recover meteorites as their scientific analysis provides essential information about the formation history of the solar system but clearly in some instances meteorites are also immensely valued as symbolic and sacred objects....

...Solar System. Although conditions on other planets and bodies in space look inhospitable, ingredients that could host life might be present. If life exists in any of the worlds we hope to explore, conscientious mission teams cannot leave its protection to chance. We know life is found on Earth in the most extreme conditions and terrestrial hitch-hikers can survive space...

...Solar System exploration, in which Jupiter’s enigmatic ocean moon Europa will be front and centre. Here we look at what two upcoming missions hope to achieve and why this is important for space scientists and astrobiologists...Europa was first glimpsed up-close by the Pioneer and Voyager probes in the 1970s, but it wasn’t until the Galileo mission in the 1990s and...

...energy, resisting antibiotics, or causing disease. What is meant by the statement that metagenomics reveals ‘who is there and what they do’? Metagenomics is the study of all genetic material found in an environmental sample. It tells us ‘who is there’ by identifying the organisms present based on their DNA or RNA, and ‘what they do’ by analysing the genes they...

...solar system, and how it can be modelled mathematically appreciate the difficulties inherent in predicting chaotic systems, like weather forecasting. The Open University would really appreciate a few minutes of your time to tell us about yourself and your expectations for the course before you begin, in our optional start-of-course survey. Participation will be completely...