London’s something of an unlikely hotbed for all things outer space at the moment.

World experts on the search for extraterrestrial life have descended on the capital to talk about the chances of finding ET, and what it would mean for our culture. SETI founder Frank Drake, popular author Paul Davies, Beagle 2 mastermind Colin Pillenger and many other familiar names have addressed delegates at the Royal Society’s conference on ‘The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society’. You may have seen the resulting headlines. We learned that the switch from analogue to digital TV may render us invisible to aliens; that the denizens of other planets probably look a lot like us; and that the aliens may already be among us (Davies, with his now familiar theories about non-terrestrial microbial life living on Earth).

In other news, instead of spacey people coming to London, one Londoner is planning a trip to the edge of space. Steve Truglia of Wanstead will attempt a parachute jump from a record-breaking 23 miles above the Earth – not quite space, but damn well close enough. The leap will include over 7 minutes of freefall after ascent in a high-altitude balloon. He’ll break the sound barrier during his plummet. Fast. But…not so fast. Truglia still needs half a million pounds in funding, while rival jumper Felix Baumgartner has the backing of Red Bull.

Meanwhile, stars of a different persuasion are the talk of the town, as ABBAWorld opens.