Over the last five days, the Vatican invited 30 of the world's leading scientists to participate in a "study week" on astrobiology that focuses on questions regarding life's origins and the existence of extraterrestrial life. What conclusions they arrived at have not been made public, but there are plans in the works to publish the findings.

At any rate, this move is further evidence that the Vatican is taking a kinder, gentler, more active role in science and technological progress. After all, theology and science don't have to be mutually exclusive. [Physorg via PopSci]

The carbon dioxide is the main reason for the excitement because, under the right circumstances, it could have a connection to biological activity as it does on Earth. The very fact we are able to detect it and estimate its abundance is significant for the long-term effort of characterizing planets to find out what they are made of and if they could be a possible host for life.

Until now, the Hubble was mostly used for observations of stars and galaxies in the distant universe. However, the new analysis method created by Mark Swain, a research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., uses the space telescope's near infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer to make these findings.

The technique requires the planet to block its star. At that time, the light of the star could be subtracted from the light of the star and the planet prior to the eclipse. That way, scientists can analyze the chemical composition of the planet's atmosphere by looking at the resulting light, because the gases "absorb certain wavelengths of light from the planet's hot glowing interior".

According to NASA, HD 189733b is too hot to actually have life (at least, life as we know it), but the method opens the door to the discovery of life in distant solar systems.

As if Tom wasn't proof enough that aliens actually exists. [NASA]

Properly angled and lined up to reflect light from the sun, the mirrors could be used to increase the amount of light reflected by the Earth-Moon system by up to 20%. Any alien eye scanning the heavens—or, more likely, an automated system like SETI set up by aliens—should be able to easily spot the modulations. A set of prime numbers in flashes would be a good choice, since these are easily distinguishable from natural variations. Furthermore, pop photovoltaic cells on the other side of the mirrors, beam the energy to Earth by microwaves and you'd have enough power to seriously impact the climate crisis. Not a bad idea, eh? [New Scientist via KurzweilAI]

The house was originally put together in the 1970s, and as such, many of the fittings now have a retro feeling, but that just adds to the charm. The space dwelling is now up for sale, and it is to go under the hammer this very day, which has us counting the Benjamins. Unfortunately, the 2000 sq ft extra terrestrial base station, with three floors, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen, living room and scenic view has already attracted a $100,000 bid, which plants it about $99,999 out of our budget. Oh boy, it's back to our slimy, grimy, shoe box of an office until another UFO house comes on the market. We're optimistic. [CityNews]

The winner of the "You Make It, We'll Play It" competition will get the equivalent of $40,000 and their advert shown on terrestrial TV too. Meanwhile, on June 12th, aided by astronomers from Leicester University, the EISCAT 500Mhz UHF Radar will direct the space-bound advert transmission toward the star 47 Ursae Majoris, which is apparently pretty similar to our Sun and may have habitable planets. How far off is that potential alien audience, you ask? It's (you'll love this) 42 light years away.

Assuming aliens are interested at all in our transmissions, that means that in 42 years time, the signal may be either amusing and confusing alien scientists on another planet, or triggering an incoming invasion of cheese-frenzied extra-terrestrials.

So, Giz readers, is the Dorito advert more culturally relevant than a cheery Beatles tune? Let us know in the comments. [PRnewswire]

Or maybe it isn't a laser beam or E.T. at all and I've just drank myself stupid, but it's pretty convincing. Thanks, CptPoland –Travis Hudson