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What is the advantage of eggs over live births?

Brian Shipman
Maidenhead, Berkshire, UK

If aliens with technology similar to ours lived on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri (our next-nearest star), would we be able to see unmistakable signs of a technological civilisation? Of life?

Chris Greenlaw
Vancouver, Canada

Last Word is New Å®ÉúСÊÓƵ’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To answer a question or ask a new one, email lastword@newscientist.com

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