Granta 114: Aliens

Are aliens among us?

Are we made of aliens?

Aliens on the shores

In the early 1980s, a biologist at the tropical aquarium in Stuttgart, Germany, noticed that the beautiful green alga Caulerpa taxifolia (Fig. 1) would make an ideal aquarium decoration. It does not wither, it is fast growing and it withstands cool temperatures. In the following years, many aquariums acquired Caulerpa plants from Stuttgart, among them the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, from wh...

Aliens at home?

When in 1609 galileo first saw the moons of Jupiter, he must have been spellbound. i was certainly so enrapt when i saw Europa and her three companions strung like a line of jewels. galileo may have appreciated the irony that my guide was a Jesuit priest, and the somewhat antiquated telescope we used was but a few yards from the papal summer residence in castel gandolfo. galileo prized open the...

P-114: Gene