The search for life beyond our solar system heated up this year when scientists reported a tantalising signal from an exoplanet of a molecule that is known to be produced exclusively by life on Earth.

The afternoon of 7 August 1996 isn’t a time that sticks in many people’s minds. But if things had worked out differently, it might have been etched into our collective memory. At 1.15pm, US President ...

A strange metallic monolith was discovered deep in the Utah desert, and very few people knew where it was. Using flight data, terrain clues, and instinct, the location was quietly tracked down. The ...