Life on alien planets probably wouldn’t experience day and night – here’s how that may change evolution
Maureen Cohen, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Venus Global Climate Modelling, The Open University
Do aliens sleep? You may take sleep for granted, but research suggests many planets that could evolve life don’t have a day and night cycle. It’s hard to imagine, but there are organisms living in Earth’s lightless habitats, deep underground or at the bottom of the sea, that give us an idea what alien life without a circadian rhythm may be like.
There are billions of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy. How do we arrive at this number? The Milky Way has between 100 billion and 400...