Is Anyone Out There? Searching for Aliens in the PopSci Archives
Do Beavers Rule on Mars? Yes, we really published this story. Bogus canals on Mars, alien germs from Venus and the "truth" behind UFOs This week, NASA discussed their plans to explore Mars and Titan for signs of life, while Steven Hawking warned against hostile aliens. So, being in an extraterrestrial-seeking mood, we've taken to the archives, where speculation about interplanetary neighbors--be they hyper-intelligent beings, primitive microbes or Martian beavers--has long filled our pages. Click to launch the photo gallery As the 19th century drew to a close, astronomer Percival Lowell became one of the early figureheads in the scientific search for alien life when he published a series of books envisioning an elaborate canal system on Mars, presumably built by an ancient civilization. Unlike naturally winding rivers on Earth, the lines Lowell observed on Mars through his powerful telescope in Arizona he deemed too straight and organized to be...