Searching for magnetite to find life and the boundary between biology and astronomy

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Magnetite, a type of iron oxide, is common on both Earth and Mars, and appears in many forms. On Earth, some of those forms are produced only by bacteria and have unique magnetic signatures. Soon Sam Kim has developed a means of detecting this biologically-produced magnetite that could help in the search for life on Mars. See article.
g Life - New research shows that organisms living inside rocks ejected from planets by asteroid impacts may be able to survive their trip into orbit – and back. See article.
g Message - When does asking the right questions tell more than necessarily knowing the right answers? Perhaps when crossing the fertile boundary between biology and astronomy. See article.
g Cosmicus - Book alert: Paul Hardersen has written a rare and important book about the exploration of space in “The Case for Space: Who Benefits from Explorations of the Last Frontier (Frontiers in Astronomy and Earth Science, Vol. 3)”. While there is plenty of grand vision and high technology here, his book also shows how space technology makes very personal contributions to the quality of life of people around the world. This book shows how individuals can be a part of advancing the space frontier no matter where they are, as Paul invites you to join the great adventure. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a cool set of classroom lessons courtesy of NASA: Astroventure, in which students search for and design a habitable planet. See article.

New online map of Mars and an educational guide to astrobiology

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - High-resolution data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s CRISM instrument has been used to create a new online map of Mars. The map allows visitors to see Mars' progression through wet, volcanic and dry eras. See article.
g Life - When Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, he gave a convincing account of how life has evolved over billions of years from simple microbes to the complexity of the Earth's biosphere today. But he pointedly left out how life got started. One might as well speculate about the origin of matter, he quipped. Today scientists have a good idea of how matter originated in the Big Bang, but the origin of life remains shrouded in mystery. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA Ames was nearly shut down two years ago, but is now poised for major growth, according to a presentation made last month by Director Pete Worden to NASA Ames employees. See article.
g Learning - Here’s the ultimate Web site for an introduction to astrobiology. “Astrobiology: The Living Universe” is a comprehensive and educational guide to life on Earth and beyond. This site features sections on the chemical origin of life, evolution, planetary biology, the search for extraterrestrial life, supporting humans in space and exobiology. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: “Many Worlds: The New Universe, Extraterrestrial Life, and the Theological Implications, by Steven J. Dick (editor), is a provocative collection examining science's impact on theology. Based on a 1998 conference sponsored by the Templeton Foundation, this collection of essays opens with the observation that the Copernican revolution looks insignificant when compared to the discoveries made about the earth and the universe in the last century: we now know, for example, that the universe is billions (not thousands) of light-years big; that it is expanding, not static; that our galaxy is just one of many, not the entirety of the universe. But from looking at modern theology, you wouldn't think anything had changed. The contributors (who include physicists, philosophers, historians of science, and theologians) suggest that cosmological advances might reshape the very fundamentals of theology. See article.

If everybody is listening and nobody transmitting and the Mars Phoenix Lander prepares to land

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Arctic ice formed about 45 million years ago – roughly 14 million years ahead of previous predictions – according to new research published in Nature. An international team of scientists, including Brown geologist Steven Clemens, says this startling evidence shows that glaciers formed in tandem at Earth’s poles, providing important insights into global climate change. See article.
g Message - Whenever the director of SETI research presents a public lecture, she can almost guarantee that “What If everybody is listening and nobody is transmitting?” will be one of the questions the audience asks. See article.
g Cosmicus - In less than two weeks, the Mars Phoenix Lander could realize scientists' long-delayed dream of directly finding Martian ice for the first time. To date, the evidence for water on Mars has been indirect. See article.
g Learning - Biddeford Middle School students were rocketed into orbit Friday during Space Day, a day-long event featuring guest speakers from various space and aviation fields and activities designed to encourage students to think about the effort it takes to send a rocket into space. See article.

Water that flowed on Mars and Jurassic global warming

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - A provocative new study of photographs taken from orbit suggests that liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars as recently as several years ago, raising the possibility that the Red Planet could harbor an environment favorable to life. See article.
g Life - During the Jurassic, global warming and severe environmental change led to the extinction of many species. One of the most intriguing effects was that the oceans became starved of oxygen. See article.
g Learning - How common are other civilizations in the universe? This question has fascinated humanity for centuries, and although we still have no definitive answer, a number of recent developments have brought it once again to the fore. Chief among these is the confirmation - after a long wait and several false starts - that planets exist outside our solar system. See article. My apologies in advance for the Web site that I found this otherwise credible article on.
g Aftermath - Clearly, if we are not alone in the universe, there are some unavoidable theological and philosophical consequences. We feel that the problem of extraterrestrial life is one of the most important questions raised in science to the present. We should reflect on the consequences of a positive result of either finding extraterrestrial microorganisms, or receiving a radio message form an extraterrestrial source: When such discovery occurs, the implications are likely to have an impact on our culture requiring adjustments possibly more radical than those arising form the evidence that humans descend from microorganisms. Note: This paper is from 1999. See article.

Natural selection’s variable speeds and simulating contact between two cultures in real time

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Washington Post science writer Marc Kaufman was online recently to discuss the discovery of what scientists believe may have been hot springs on the planet Mars, a place where primitive kinds of life could have thrived. Here’s a transcript.
g Life - Countering the widespread view of evolution as a process played out over the course of eons, evolutionary biologists have shown that natural selection can turn on a dime - within months - as a population's needs change. In a study of island lizards exposed to a new predator, the scientists found that natural selection dramatically changed direction over a very short time, within a single generation, favoring first longer and then shorter hind legs. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Message - Since there is a general agreement that the laws of nature are the same everywhere in our universe, it follows that mathematics must be universal and therefore it must be the same for every intelligent being in the universe. So, a language for SETI communication based on mathematics can be constructed. But the fact that mathematics has turned out to be so strictly entangled with material reality also establishes very sharp limitations to its efficacy for our purposes and the need of an integration with (at least) a pictorial language. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a great educational tool for teaching astrobiology and various principles of science: COTI. COTI is an educational experiment in creation — students design an integrated world, alien life form and culture, and simulate contact with a future human society. One team constructs a solar system, a world and its ecology, an alien life form and its culture, basing each step on the previous one and utilizing the principles of science as a guide to imagination. The other team designs a future human colony, planetary or spacefaring, "creating and evolving" its culture as an exercise in cultural structure, dynamics and adaptation. Through a structured system of progressive revelation, the teams then simulate — and experience — contact between the two cultures in real time, exploring the problems and possibilities involved in inter-cultural encounters. See article.

Clues about planetary formation and if your child a future SETI scientist

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Scientists may have solved a long-standing mystery about anomalies in Jupiter's rings. The finding provides new information about the Jovian system and may yield clues about planetary formation. See article.
g Message - Book alert: Scour your used bookstore shelves for "Life Beyond Earth," by Timothy Ferris. Rock-solid science writer Ferris has covered this ground before. In the two-hour PBS documentary that he wrote and narrated - which shares the title, text, and many of the images of this generously illustrated book - Ferris tackles two age-old questions about the potentially universal nature of life: Are we alone, and, if not, is anybody listening? See article.
g Learning - Are you a future SETI scientist? Note: This article is from Feb. 2001. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: The authentic discovery of extraterrestrial life would usher in a scientific revolution on par with Copernicus or Darwin, says Paul Davies in “Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life.” Just as these ideas sparked religious and philosophical controversy when they were first offered, so would proof of life arising away from Earth. With this brief book (160 pages, including two appendices and an index), Davies tries to get ahead of the curve and begin to sort out the metaphysical mess before it happens. Many science fiction writers have preceded him, of course, but here the matter is plainly put. This is a very good introduction to a compelling subject. See article.

Planets around red dwarfs and killer electrons

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - The changing view of planets orbiting low mass stars, M stars, as potentially hospitable worlds for life and its remote detection was motivated by several factors, including the demonstration of viable atmospheres and oceans on tidally locked planets, normal incidence of dust disks, including debris disks, detection of planets with masses in the 5–20 M range, and predictions of unusually strong spectral biosignatures. See article.
g Abodes - A recent study brings new insight into how planets form around red dwarfs, the most populous stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Note: This article is from late 2006. See article.
g Message - What’s it like to be a SETI astronomer, listening for alien radio signals? Note: This article is from 2000. See article.
g Cosmicus - Weather that originates at the Sun, not here on Earth, is responsible for radio waves that cause an unusual shape of two belts of radiation that encircle Earth and contain "killer electrons" that can damage satellites and pose a risk to space travelers, scientists report. See article.

New technique for finding sister Earths and talking math with ETI

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the home star system of Star Trek’s Gorgan: Epsilon Indi ABC? See article.
g Abodes - Using an optical space telescope and a mathematical method, astronomers are hoping to find Earth-like watery worlds around distant stars. Their technique may one day help astrobiologists discover another planet suitable for life as we know it. See article.
g Life - Do germs communicate? Many scientists think so and are betting the chatter may hold the key to developing the next generation of drugs to fight killer superbugs. See article.
g Message - How's your math? Well, you may want to brush up on it - that is, if you hope to be conversant with ET. Scientists say that any signal we receive from intelligent life is rather unlikely to be in English, but in the language of math. Find out why algebra truly may be an alien concept - just as you suspected in high school - and what a message from another planet might be. See podcast of this SETI Institute “Are We Alone?” program.
g Cosmicus - A team of scientists have been investigating how signs of life on Mars can be spotted. See article.
g Learning - Video games and virtual worlds are a great way to inspire kids' interest in science and technology. The President's Commission on Implementation of US Space Exploration Policy reports that "...video and simulation games are not only a multi-billion dollar industry, they are proving to be effective as learning devices for people of all ages" ... "The potential for converting hobbies and amusements to more educational pursuits is enormous." See article.

Dynamic Martian climate and the man who started modern SETI

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Physicists predict that trillions of years into the future, the information that currently allows us to understand how the universe expands will have disappeared over the visible horizon. What remains will be "an island universe" made from the Milky Way and its nearby galactic Local Group neighbors in an overwhelmingly dark void. See article.
g Abodes - New evidence shows that Mars' climate may have been much more dynamic than previously thought. The research has implications in understanding whether or not Mars could have supported life in its past. See article.
g Life - When he started compiling an online database of seashells 15 years ago, Gary Rosenberg did not envision that his meticulous record-keeping would eventually shed light on a 40-year-old evolutionary debate. See article.
g Message - Here’s a neat piece: an interview with Frank Drake, the astronomer and pioneer who flipped the "on" switch for Project Ozma, the first modern “SETI” project. See article. Note: The interview is from 2000.
g Learning - Join NASA and the Girl Scouts for an exciting summer residential program June 22-28, 2008, at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. See article.

Habitable zone of 40 Eridani ABC and Allen Telescope Array

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the home star system of Star Trek’s Vulcans: 40 Eridani ABC?
g Abodes - An initiative to provide researchers with access to the Biosphere 2 facility is set to help scientists tackle challenges facing science and society, including global climate change, the fate of water and how energy travels through Earth's ecosystems. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Message - The Allen Telescope Array, formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope, is a joint effort by the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley to construct a radio interferometer that will be dedicated to astronomical and simultaneous search for extra-terrestrial intelligence observations. It is being constructed at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, 290 miles northeast of San Francisco and will be composed of 350 antennas at completion. See article.

Habitable zone for Gliese 382 and how a warmer Earth will affect life

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star Gliese 382?
g Abodes - The debate over climate change and its effects is often headline news. In the near future, scientists are concerned that the Earth will experience a continuing increase in global temperature. New research is showing that even if this increase is only a few degrees, it could have important repercussions for life on our planet. See article.
g Message - When talk turns to SETI, there’s one question that’s as common as catfish: "We’re not broadcasting to the aliens; so what makes you think they’ll be broadcasting to us?" See article.
g Learning - Americans love science in their movies and TV shows, yet recent reports indicate we are losing our scientific dominance to the rest of the world. Can science-themed entertainment get Americans off the couch and into the lab? See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

Multiple universes and Mars’ hydrothermal springs

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - The opening speaker at the 2008 Astrobiology Science Conference, Lord Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge, said that our universe may just be one of many. Multiple universes could be stacked sideways like sheets of paper, separated by only a thin margin of space. We would never know they were there unless we could be awakened to the existence of that other dimension. See article.
g Abodes - There's a growing buzz in the astrobiology community that ancient hydrothermal springs may have been spotted on Mars. See article.
g Message - No matter how quiet we try to be now it's too late to prevent alien invaders. So says Alexander Zaitsev of the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics in Moscow, Russia, who points the finger at astronomers. See article.
g Imagining - Speculation about aliens has typically been left to science fiction authors, science fiction readers and Hollywood writers and directors. But what if we apply what we have learned about life on Earth to speculate about what alien life forms might be like? Here’s a primer.

Habitability of 61 Cygni and the illogic of Fermi’s Paradox

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the home star system of Star Trek’s Tellarites: 61 Cygni AB?
g Abodes - Astronomers have constructed an image of material around the star AB Aurigae that appears to be coalescing into a celestial body. The finding will help scientists understand the early stages of planetary formation. See article.
g Life - "Humans have always thought that icy environments are 'harsh' and 'inhospitable'," says Jere Lipps, an astrobiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who has done fieldwork in Antarctic sea ice and authored several scientific articles o­n possible life o­n Europa. In fact, he says, the diversity of the "sea-ice community" demonstrates that an icy environment can play host to a complete and complex ecosystem. See article.
g Message - The assertion that extraterrestrial intelligences (ETI) do not exist, based on the apparent contradictions inherent in the Fermi Paradox, rests upon an unproven and untenable presumption: That ETI are not now present in the Solar System. The current observational status of the Solar System is insufficient to support the assumption that ETI are not here. Most advanced civilizations also would be either invisible or unrecognizable using current human observational methods, so millions of advanced societies may exist and still not be directly detectable by us. Thus the Fermi Paradox cannot logically be raised as an objection to the existence of ETI until these major observational deficiencies have been corrected. See article.
g Aftermath - Scientists should pay greater attention to discussing the social implications of discovering extraterrestrial life - even though many researchers shy away from the subject because they don't consider it "hard" science. See article.

Sun’s movement through Milky way and fossil microbes on Mars

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - The sun's movement through the Milky Way regularly sends comets hurtling into the inner solar system - coinciding with mass life extinctions on earth, a new study claims. The study suggests a link between comet bombardment and the movement through the galaxy. See article.
g Abodes - Materials blasted into space from the surface of early Earth may preserve a unique record of our planet's early surface environment. Armstrong et al. (2002) pointed out that such materials, in the form of terrestrial meteorites, may exist on the Moon and be of considerable astrobiological interest if biomarkers from early Earth are preserved within them. See article.
g Life - Fossil microbes found along an iron-rich river in Spain reveal how signs of life could be preserved in minerals found on Mars. The discovery may help to equip the next generation Mars rover with the tools it would need to find evidence of past life on the planet. See article.
g Intelligence - By examining marks on the teeth of ancient human ancestors, scientists have found that their diet was far different than previously believed. The research sheds light on the evolutionary history of complex organisms on Earth. See article.
g Message - The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations. See article.
g Learning - The international astrobiology community recently gathered at AbSciCon 2008 to present new discoveries, to build collaborations, and to celebrate a decade of cross-disciplinary science. AbSciCon 2008 was hosted by the SETI Institute, and it attracted more than 675 scientists, students, educators, and journalists from 28 countries. See article.
g Aftermath - Would dutiful American citizens trust the government to handle first contact with extraterrestrials and rush to get information to the public? See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

Photosynthesis on other worlds and AI on Mars

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby brown dwarf LP 944-020?
g Abodes - The jarosite group minerals have received increasing attention since the discovery of jarosite on the martian surface by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. See article.
g Life - Scientists studying the potential for life on extrasolar planets are looking at the light spectrum to determine what kind of photosynthesis plants might use on other planets. Plants on distant worlds may look very different than our own depending on the light from their planet's parent star. See article.
g Message - When the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft were launched in 1977, they each included a gold-plated phonograph record (a "golden record") of natural sounds, greetings in human voices, and a variety of music. The record cover has symbolic instructions that show how to use and understand the record, though scientists still debate whether other civilizations will be able to decipher them. Click here for info on Voyager’s golden record and here for an explanation of the record cover diagram. See article.
g Cosmicus - Artificial intelligence is giving a boost to Mars Express as it searches for signs of past or present life on Mars. See article.
g Aftermath - If we establish communication with a civilization even as close as 100 light years from Earth, the round-trip time for a message and its reply is 200 years. What will be the psychology of a civilization that can engage in a meaningful conversation with this sort of delay? How is such a conversation to be established? What should the content of such a conversation be? These are the questions which motivate this article’s title: "Minds and Millennia: The Psychology of Interstellar Communication." See article.

Habitable zone for Groombridge 34 AB and giving ET some of our sunlight

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby binary Groombridge 34 AB?
g Abodes - Luke Skywalker's home planet, which orbits a binary star system, could be out there, according to Ryosuke Kita of Northwestern University, who presented at the recent Astrobiology Science Conference 2008. Of the 200 or so star systems where we've found planets, about 20 percent are binary systems, and that number should go up as we find more, since about half of all main-sequence stars are binaries. Kita's calculations show that gravity from a second star will perturb an Earth-like planet's orbit to the point of making its climate uninhabitable. The key, he says, is that the planet can't be alone — it needs a nearby gas giant to help stabilize its orbit, and allow a climate that could support life. See article.
g Message - A pair of U.S. astrobiologists have come up with a cunningly simply way of attracting the attention of alien lifeforms - just cover half the Moon's surface with mirrors to throw back some extra sunlight in ET's direction. See article.
g Cosmicus - Scientists are using DNA to make intricate nano-sized objects smaller than the tiniest speck of dust. DNA is a primary building block for life, but its ability to self-assemble could also help develop technologies for medical, electronic and space applications. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a list of books about astrobiology recommended by science fiction writer David Darling.

Habitable zone for Gamma Leporis AB and Mars Phoenix’ landing site

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby binary Gamma Leporis AB?
g Abodes - With less than two months to go before it is due to land on Mars, NASA's Phoenix probe has been directed towards a specific landing site called Green Valley. The site has few boulders that could potentially endanger a landing and lots of water ice for the lander to study. See article.
g Life - By refining a technique used to date rocks and fossils, scientists have now determined the date of the dinosaurs' extinction with pinpoint accuracy. The finding sheds new light on one of the most dramatic periods in the evolution of life on Earth. See article.
g Message - While advanced civilizations might be tempted to use optical means such as lasers to send information between the stars, there are some good reasons that nearly all the major Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence experiments are looking for radio waves instead. See article.
g Learning - Don’t quite know what a word you’ve come across in an astrobiology article means? Here’s a handy glossary. See article.

Discovery of a familiar solar system and SETI radio search primer

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby M dwarf GJ 625?
g Abodes - The discovery of a small-scale and very familiar solar system in the distant reaches of the galaxy has fired the imaginations of star-seekers everywhere. See article.
g Message - Here’s a quick, easy to understand primer to SETI’s radio searches and the Fermi Paradox. See article.
g Learning - The Astrobiology Science Conference, recently held in Santa Clara, California, was a complex universe teeming with topics and ideas. Although there were far too many interesting presentations to cover in full, this overview provides a few highlights. See article.
g Imagining - An impressive listing of “Star Trek” aliens exists at “Star Trek Aliens”. Of course, most “Star Trek” aliens either are just humanoid (an unlikely scenario, though the series did explain it away by saying a previous humanoid race “seeded” worlds with their DNA) are incorporeal. Still, the series did offer some intriguing species — most notably the horta, tribble and Species 8472 — merit attention.

Allen Telescope Array and trouble with Opportunity’s arm

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers have discovered the coldest brown dwarf star ever observed. The finding is a step toward filling the gap between stars and planets. See article.
g Abodes - In the time since the Viking life-detection experiments were conducted on Mars, many missions have enhanced our knowledge about the environmental conditions on the Red Planet. However, the Martian surface chemistry and the Viking lander results remain puzzling. See article.
g Message - Here’s an article in which Dave DeBoer, project engineer for the Allen Telescope Array, discusses what the unique telescope will offer. The development of the Allen Telescope Array is marked by many innovations crafted with the express purpose of building a world-class state-of-the-art astronomical facility at a fraction of the price of existing radio telescopes. See article. Note: This article is from October 2003.
g Cosmicus - NASA's Opportunity rover is having difficulty with a small motor in its robotic arm. Researchers are assessing how the rover's mission will be affected if the motor is no longer usable. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity courtesy of NASA: “Who Can Live Here?” Students explore the limits of life on Earth to extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds. See article.
g Imagining - Book alert: You’ve got to read Aliens and Alien Societies (Science Fiction Writing Series), by Stanley Schmidt. Whether you're a writer or a reader of science fiction, this how-to guide provides thought-provoking analyses of the ways in which aliens and alien societies can be portrayed convincingly. It's as fascinating as the many classic SF texts it examines.

Microscopic organisms that might survive in space and looking for powerful light pulses from other star systems

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star Lacaille 9352?
g Abodes - Scientists have developed a new way of determining the size and frequency of meteorites that have collided with Earth in the past. Their work has provided new information about the impact that may have caused the demise of the dinosaurs. See article.
g Life - Microscopic organisms thrive in polar-ice 'brine channels' whose conditions mirror some of those found in space. See article.
g Message - In 2001, California astronomers broadened the search for extraterrestrial intelligence with a new experiment to look for powerful light pulses beamed our way from other star systems. Scientists from the University of California's Lick Observatory, the SETI Institute, UC-Santa Cruz, and UC-Berkeley used the Lick Observatory's 40-inch Nickel Telescope with a new pulse-detection system capable of finding laser beacons from civilizations many light-years distant. Unlike other optical SETI searches, this new experiment is largely immune to false alarms that slow the reconnaissance of target stars. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: You may have to really scour used book stores for this one: 1976’s “ETI: The First Encounter” considers the consequences to man's view of himself and his world of the first proven contact — when it comes — with beings from another planet. Edited by James L. Christian, this book led the way in reflecting on the next stage in man's gradual self-discovery. See article.

Habitable zone for Luyten’s Star and Mars holding its breath

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for nearby Luyten’s Star?
g Abodes - Rather than having had its air knocked out into space, Mars might just be holding its breath. A new finding suggests the missing atmosphere of Mars might be locked up in hidden reservoirs on the planet, rather than having been chafed away by billions of years' worth of solar winds as previously thought. See article.
g Life - A small, light-weight microscope that can produce high-resolution images is being developed to help astrobiologists study microbial life in some of Earth's most extreme environments. These studies can allow scientists to determine the limits of life and will help define habitable environments on other planets. See article.
g Message - Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are about to expand into new realms, thanks to new advances in technology — and new thinking. See article.

Habitable zone for Gliese 5632 AB and arguments against ‘life from space’ scenarios

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star Gliese 5632 AB?
g Abodes - Scientists have shown that biological productivity may have been responsible for super greenhouse episodes during the Cretaceous and Eocene. The finding provides important insights into the links between the biosphere and our planet's climate. See article.
g Life - Mike Russell thinks life began in iron sulfide deposits at ocean vents. In this interview, he expands on his theory of how life originated, and explains why “life from space” scenarios are dead wrong. See article.
g Intelligence - The completion of the Allen Institute for Brain Science's inaugural project signals a remarkable leap forward in one of the last frontiers of medical science - the brain. The Institute today announced the completion of the groundbreaking Allen Brain Atlas, a Web- based, three-dimensional map of gene expression in the mouse brain. Detailing more than 21,000 genes at the cellular level, the Atlas provides scientists with a level of data previously not available. See article.
g Message - How might we detect an extraterrestrial messenger probe already in the solar system? See article. Note: This article is from 1983.
g Cosmicus - NASA will launch two probes into the radiation belts in order to study how violent space weather can affect astronauts and space equipment. The knowledge gained will be essential in designing safe future space missions. See article.

Habitable zone of 107 Piscis and the age of Earth’s continents

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby K-type star 107 Piscis?
g Abodes - A study by an international team of researchers has concluded Earth's continents most likely were in place soon after Western Australia, thought to be among the oldest rock formed, overturning a long-held theory that the early planet was either moon-like or dominated by oceans. See article.
g Life - Researchers are developing a new and rapid way of identifying an organism's species based on DNA. The technology will help in finding new species and will be a valuable tool in understanding and documenting the evolution of life on Earth. See article.
g Message - Several big hunts are seeking radio and laser emissions from other civilizations. From Project Phoenix to SETI@home, here's a complete rundown of all the searches now under way or recently conducted. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA is extending the Cassini-Huygens mission by two years. The mission has provided exciting and unexpected findings from locations like Titan and Enceladus, and will now continue is important observations of Saturn and the planet's unique moons. See article.

Habitable zone for Procyon AB and creating and artificially evolving unique proteins in the lab from scratch

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the “Star Trek’s home star for the Andorians: Procyon AB?
g Abodes - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured a new stereo view of Mars' largest moon, Phobos. The image could yield new information about Mars and its unique moons. See article.
g Life - Scientists have managed to create and artificially evolve unique proteins in the lab from scratch. The research can help answer fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of proteins, and can ultimately yield clues about the origin of life. See article.
g Cosmicus - At the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008 Nick Wolfe of the University of Arizona said recently that the best way to tell whether an exoplanet may harbor water — and life — is for us to launch a mission into space that will look back at Earth. Ever since Voyager I launched we've had a chance to gaze from afar at the homeworld, but for some reason we've passed up the chance. Wolfe said that's a critical oversight. As we search for new planets that might harbor life around far-off stars, it might be useful to know about what our own planet looks like from a distance. See article.
g Imagining - What is panspermia, a concept that appears in a number of science fiction stories, and how plausible is it? See article.

Hunting for life around red dwarfs and hot on ET’s trail

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Only recently has the idea of habitable planets around red dwarf stars taken hold. But it’s a fascinating one, especially if you take a look at the potential window for life to develop on such worlds. M-class red dwarfs live anywhere from 50 billion up to several trillion years, a vast stretch compared with our own Sun’s projected ten billion years. And with 75 percent of main sequence stars thought to be red dwarfs, the hunt for life can be expanded enormously if we add red dwarfs to the mix. See article.
g Abodes - A study of a meteorite that fell in Egypt nearly 95 years ago may offer clues as to the search for possible life on Mars. Researchers studying the meteorite that originated from Mars found a series of microscopic tunnels within the object that mimic the size, shape and distribution to tracks left on Earth rocks by the feeding frenzy of bacteria. See article.
g Life - If "E.T." is out there, whether in the form of intelligent beings or much simpler organisms, we may soon be hot on its trail. For the first time in history, the dream of searching for signs of life in other solar systems belongs not only on the philosopher's wish list but also on the list of doable and planned human endeavors. Note: This article is from 2002. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA and the European Space Agency are rapidly developing a $3-billion outer planets flagship effort that could barnstorm the giant icebergs and subsurface oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa, or deliver a low-altitude imaging airship and a miniature submarine to probe the methane lakes on Saturn's moon Titan. See article.

Habitable zone for Lacaille 8760 and 280 definitions of life

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star Lacaille 8760?
g Abodes - Scientists have discovered a potentially Earth-like planet around a star 30 light years away. At a size five times larger than Earth, it is the smallest extrasolar planet yet discovered. See article.
g Life - What is life? According to Sohan Jheeta, an astrobiologist from the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK, biologists have spent far too long dithering about how to define what a living organism actually is. As a result there are more than 280 definitions of life on record, and none of them really hits the mark, Jheeta says. See article.
g Message - Astronomer Michael M. Davis checked his computer. One of the antennas on the state-of-the-art radio telescope being built in the valley outside his office was picking up an unusual pulse from beyond the Earth. A signal from another intelligent civilization? Not today. It was the Rosetta Satellite, en route to study a comet. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA has launched the new Lunar Science Institute to lead the agency's research activities for future missions