Findings must be taken with a grain of salt

ENCELADUS was a familiar name in ancient Greece. Gaia, the Earth to you and me, was fertilised by the blood of Uranus and gave birth to children known as the Gigantes, one of whom was Enceladus.

He’s forgotten nowadays, but, thanks to the activities of a space-probe, this giant may regain his former celebrity; a moon of Saturn, named after him, has become hot property in the search for extra-terrestrial life.

Giant radio telescopes scan the sky, 24 hours a day, listening for faint sounds of civilisations on the planets of distant stars. Alas, no strains of angelic music, or of ET phoning home, have been heard. But are we looking, or listening, in the right place? According to papers in the June issue of Nature, Enceladus might be a better bet for our search. This strange moon has an ocean under its surface, with salts similar to our earthly ones, raising the tantalising possibility that it supports primitive forms of life.