The Download: are we alone, and private military data for sale

The search to find out if anybody or something is on the market has gained larger scientific footing over the previous 50 years. Again then, astronomers had but to identify a single planet outdoors our photo voltaic system. Now we all know the galaxy is teeming with a variety of worlds.

We’re now getting nearer than ever earlier than to studying how frequent dwelling worlds like ours really are. New instruments, together with synthetic intelligence, might assist scientists look previous their preconceived notions of what constitutes life. 

Future devices will sniff the atmospheres of distant planets and scan samples from our native photo voltaic system to see in the event that they comprise telltale chemical substances in the correct proportions for organisms to prosper. However figuring out whether or not these planets really comprise organisms isn’t any straightforward process. Read the full story.

—Adam Mann

‘Are we alone?’ is the primary entry in our new mini-series The Largest Questions, which explores how know-how helps probe a number of the deepest, most mind-bending mysteries of our existence.

The US navy’s privateness downside in three charts

Extremely private and delicate knowledge about navy members, equivalent to house addresses, well being and monetary data, is well accessible to anybody who desires to purchase it. It’s on the market for as little as $0.12 per report by US-based knowledge brokers.