"Are we alone in the universe?" This is a question which goes back to the dawn of history, but for most of human history it has been in the province ….

The question not many ask is: why are the laws of physics like they are?.

When I was a student, the laws of physics were regarded as completely off limits. The job of the scientist, we were told, is to discover the laws and….

The secret of life does not lie in its chemical basis . . . Life succeeds precisely because it evades chemical imperatives..

Imagine a civilisation that's way in advance of us wants to communicate with us, and assist us in our development. The information we provide to them….

Although gravity is by far the weakest force of nature, its insidious and cumulative action serves to determine the ultimate fate not only of individ….

The origin of life is one of the great outstanding mysteries of science..

Things changed with the discovery of neutron stars and black holes - objects with gravitational fields so intense that dramatic space and time-warpin….

You've got to get away from the idea cancer is a disease to be cured. It's not a disease really. The cancer cell is your own body, your own cells, ju….

The universe contains vastly more order than Earth-life could ever demand. All those distant galaxies, irrelevant for our existence, seem as equally ….

Technology is, in the broadest sense, mind or intelligence or purpose blending with nature..

Cancer cells come pre-programmed to execute a well-defined cascade of changes, seemingly designed to facilitate both their enhanced survival and thei….

For me, science is already fantastical enough. Unlocking the secrets of nature with fundamental physics or cosmology or astrobiology leads you into a….

To a physicist life looks nothing short of a miracle. It's just amazing what living things can do..

Traditionally, scientists have treated the laws of physics as simply 'given,' elegant mathematical relationships that were somehow imprinted on the u….

Most life on Earth is microbes. we've only just scratched the surface of the microbial realm. Probably less than .1% of microbes have been classified….

If we're looking for intelligence in the universe I think everybody assumes that this has to start with life and so the question is: "How likely is i….

I always look on the black side of life. That way, you won't be disappointed and I'm cheerful if it doesn't work out. I'm a cheerful pessimist..

It's only fashion that has said the pendulum has swung from extreme skepticism about extraterrestrial life to extreme credulity. The truth is somewhe….

What we want is another sample of life, which is not on our tree of life at all. All life that we've studied so far on Earth belongs to the same tree….

Most research into life's murky origin has been carried out by chemists. They've tried a variety of approaches in their attempts to recreate the firs….