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Space

Space

Life on alien planets probably wouldn't experience day and night – here's how that may change evolution

Space
Summary
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71% Informative

Maureen Cohen is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Venus Global Climate Modelling at The Open University .

Research suggests many planets that could evolve life don't have a day and night cycle.

Life on Earth , from bacteria to humans, has circadian rhythms tuned to the day -night cycle.

M-Earths have no days, no nights and no seasons.

If a circadian clock organizes internal biochemical oscillations, it may have to. Or perhaps evolution would find a weirder solution. We could imagine species that live on the planet's dayside and migrate to the nightside to rest and regenerate. A circadian clock in space instead of in time. This thought should remind us that, if life exists out there, it will upend assumptions we didn't know we had. The only certainty is that it will surprise us..

VR Score

82

Informative language

85

Neutral language

54

Article tone

informal

Language

English

Language complexity

45

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

long-living