Seven Days

A glance at the week that was

Don’t say nyet to ETs

Russian scientists expect to discover alien life by 2031, according to one of the country’s top astronomers. Andrei Finkelstein, the director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Applied Astronomy Institute, said that 10 per cent of known planets circling suns in the galaxy resemble Earth, and if water can be found there, so could life.

“The genesis of life is as inevitable as the formation of atoms,” he was quoted as saying at an international forum about the search for extraterrestrial life.

Most read this week on irishtimes.com

1Quaint seaside development shrouded in mystery

2GAA player in coma after US match

3Healy-Rae 'not behind' calls

4From €25,000 to €1.45m: another distressed auction

5Playboy Hefner swaps centrefold

6Designer rugby shirts to make giants of World Cup players

7Man shot dead in Dublin pub

8Healy-Rae to pay phone money

9Actors Weisz and Craig marry

10Prosecution case against Strauss-Kahn 'near collapse'

We now know

"Hacktivist" group LulzSec(alleged hacker Ryan Cleary, left) has disbanded after just 50 days of headline-grabbing cyber attacks.

A man has been charged with falsely accusing Louis Walshof indecent assault at a Dublin nightclub.

Pope Benedict XVIhas tweeted for the first time to announce the launch of a Vatican news portal.

The numbers

25

The percentage of babies delivered in Ireland in 2009 from women born outside the country.

40

The number of schools to be established in the next six years, according to Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn.

€2m

The total value of bonuses paid to employees of the National Treasury Management Agency in 2010.

€1.8m

The price a leather jacket worn by Michael Jackson in the video for Thrillerfetched at auction.

2,517

The number of young people on mental health waiting lists at the end of March.