Humans have long been fascinated by the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Novels, films, and folk tales have encouraged curiosity and speculation about what might be 'out there' in space.
Even if there is no life on Gliese 581g, its discovery reveals that habitable planets are quite common, with around 10 to 20 per cent of red dwarves and sun-like stars boasting them.
Gliese 581g is part of a string of planets in the Gliese 581 solar system. Two of Gliese 581g's siblings - Gliese 581e and Gliese 581b - orbit too close to their parent star to support any kind of life on them.
Humans have long been fascinated by the possibility of extra-terrestrial life. Novels, films, and folk tales have encouraged curiosity and speculation about what might be 'out there' in space.
Although you may have learned English very thoroughly, it is possible that the regional accents you discover when you arrive in the UK make the language harder to understand than you thought.
This work prepared the way for the discovery of the neutron by Sir James Chadwick and, above all, for the discovery in 1934 by Irene and Frederic Joliot Curie of artificial radioactivity.
Based on the results of this research, Marie Curie received her Doctorate of Science, and in 1903 Marie and Pierre shared with Becquerel the Nobel Prize for Physics for the discovery of radioactivity.
Pierre Curie joined Marie in the work that she had undertaken to resolve this problem, and that led to the discovery of the new elements, polonium and radium.
Marie Curie decided to find out if the radioactivity discovered in uranium was to be found in other elements. She discovered that this was true for thorium.
Their marriage in 1895 marked the start of a partnership that was soon to achieve results of world significance following Henri Becquerel's discovery in 1896 of a new phenomenon, which Marie later called 'radioactivity'.
Norilsk was settled in the 1920s after the discovery of rich mineral deposits. The USSR built a metallurgical complex to extract the materials, and manned it with prisoners condemned to a living death in the Arctic Circle.
Norilsk was settled in the 1920s after the discovery of rich mineral deposits. The USSR built a metallurgical complex to extract the materials, and manned it with prisoners condemned to a living death in the Arctic Circle.
Even if there is no life on Gliese 581g, its discovery reveals that habitable planets are quite common, with around 10 to 20 per cent of red dwarves and sun-like stars boasting them.
Steven Vogt - one of the two astronomers credited with discovering Gliese 581g - has declared that 'the chances of life on this planet are 100 per cent' and that he has 'almost no doubt about it'.
More recently, scientists have joined in on the collective wonderment after the first discovery by astronomers of a new planet - Gliese 581g - that could almost certainly support extra-terrestrial organisms.
But what did it mean? The first breakthrough came when archaeologist Dr. Steve Bourget discovered a collection of bones at one of the most important Moche huacas.
These discoveries answered one question – what the painted scenes were all about – but still left a central riddle: Why had Moche society finally collapsed?
Evidence of drought was discovered. Huge sand dunes appeared to have drifted in and engulfed a number of Moche settlements around AD 600 to AD 650. The story all fitted together.
The remnants of a massive volcano, Ball's Pyramid, juts 1,843 feet out of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1788, the barren, rocky spire is almost entirely infertile.
The remnants of a massive volcano, Ball's Pyramid, juts 1,843 feet out of the Pacific Ocean. Discovered in 1788, the barren, rocky spire is almost entirely infertile.
In 2011, 9.5 million Kenyans were affected by severe drought. Few people dreamt that two years later enough water to supply the entire country for seventy years would be discovered beneath the sun-scorched, cracked earth.
Concerned that its network was being hacked, a company discovered an employee outsourcing his own job to a Chinese consulting firm. The worker spent his office hours surfing the web and checking Facebook.
From his research, Tommaso thought there could be frescoes of the Roman artist, Pietro Cavallini, hidden under other inferior paintings. Since Cavallini's greatest works had been destroyed, this would be a huge discovery.
A US-British team of astronomers discovered a planet 1,200 light-years away with ultra-high concentrations of carbon. This supports the idea that it could have mountains made up of diamonds.
NASA's Mars rover has made it's first major discovery, and it's one for the ages. Water once coursed over the now bone-dry surface, a finding based on the presence of rounded pebbles and gravel near the rover's landing site.
Bog bodies are rare and important discoveries because they are so wonderfully preserved. The cold temperature, high acidity and anaerobic condition of the bog prevent decomposition.
Ancient Roman history awaits under twenty feet of water at Herod's Harbor, so grab a snorkel and guide to discover the sunken ships, vast anchors and marble columns.