DAVID CONYERS

Is it possible to travel faster than the speed of light? I tend to believe it is not possible, partially because of problems with causality, but also the Fermi Paradox, which states if the universe is full of intelligent life, where is it? There are no signs of intelligent life out there, not yet at least, and if intelligent alien do exist and could travel at superluminal speeds then their chances of reaching us seems more likely. Again, the Fermi Paradox counters this.

Here is an interesting site, a company called Planetary Resources that is planning private mining of asteriods for water and metals, with the ultimate intention of reviving the Earth's economy and making space travel a reality. Ambitious stuff, but exciting and worthwhile nonetheless.

This idea, if it came to fruition, could be the first real step towards minimising our impacts on environmental destruction on...

Space.com often has some great articles to spark the imagination of a science fiction writer. Check out this list: Top 10 Strangest Things in Space, including dark matter, galactic cannibalism, mini-black holes and vacuum energy.

Yes, I know, I get excited about these things.

I've been very interested in the planets astronomers are detecting around other suns. What they are finding is so unexpected, and so different to what we have previously imagined possible.

But is it really that strange? Life seems to evolve and adapt to all kinds of conditions, so why can't planets.

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My review of Cosmos Magazine, a nifty science magazine published in Australia and edited by Wilson da Silva that I devour every second month when it comes out, is now available online at