And the Hello welcome to the naked scientists with me Chris Smith and also with Cat Arnie.

This week is there anybody out there we're pushing at the boundaries of science in the search for E.T.

We take a magnifying glass to the big questions. What is life? Where can we find it?

And could we ever communicate with it?

Plus the blood test that can tell you how... can we find it and could we ever communicate with it?

Plus the blood tests that can tell you how long you'll take to recover from surgery, a new

muscle inspired glue that even works underwater and 76 years after penicillin was first discovered how scientists are combating antibiotic

resistance.

The Naked Scientists Podcast is powered by UKfast.co.co. UK. Now if you or someone close to you has ever had major surgery, you'll know that it's a big shock to the system and it takes time to recover.

But it's not the same for everyone and while some people seem to spring back quickly,

others end up exhausted and weak for quite a while.

Anesthetist Bryce Goodyear and his colleagues at Stanford University in California

think they've figured out what causes these differences

and it could lead to new tests to help predict recovery time

or even new drugs to help you get back on your

feet more quickly.

There's a nice theory about the biology of the response to surgery or trauma. I can take you back 40,000 years ago when the cavemen were fighting the sacred tooth tiger,

and the tiger sometimes would just chop one of their legs or arm,

and that was a major injury like surgery.

Well, the body developed this way to deal with a major injury by producing a profound

inflammatory response, fighting off pathogens and starting the wound healing process.

But interestingly, after that, there's an anti-inflammatory response

...