Man-made spacecraft near interstellar space and the ethics of contacting ETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Stellar astronomy researchers say they’ve witnessed a never-before-seen type of supernova. See article.
g Message - Is it even ethical for us to contact alien life? See article. Note: This article is a few years old.
g Cosmicus - The Voyager spacecraft are now in the outermost layer of the heliosphere, traveling toward interstellar space – the first man-made spacecraft to travel such a vast distance from Earth. 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.

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Uracil reproduced in lab and the Vatican discusses meeting ETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - NASA scientists have reproduced uracil, a key component of the hereditary material, RNA. The uracil was created by exposing an ice sample containing the molecule pyrimidine to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions. The research may help astrobiologists understand how molecules for the origin of life were first made. See article.
g Message - What are our friends south of the equator doing in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence? After all, the Northern Hemisphere only covers half of the galaxy. See article.
g Learning - One of the biggest questions you will hear about the universe is if there is life on other worlds. I suppose it depends on your definition of life. Known as “exobiology,” the study has become a serious sub-field of both astronomy and biology. What is most unique about the study is, to date, the subject remains completely hypothetical. There may not even be anything to study. See article.
g Aftermath - The Vatican's Pontifical Academy of Sciences is holding its first major conference on astrobiology, the new science that seeks to find life elsewhere in the cosmos and to understand how it began on Earth. Convened on private Vatican grounds in the elegant Casina Pio IV, formerly the pope's villa, the unlikely gathering of prominent scientists and religious leaders shows that some of the most tradition-bound faiths are seriously contemplating the possibility that life exists in myriad forms beyond this planet. Astrobiology has arrived, and religious and social institutions - even the Vatican - are taking note. See article.

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Solar system with unstable planetary orbits discovered and the science of xenology

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered a young star where young planets jostle about like unsettled children. The system may be similar to our own solar system before our planets settled into their familiar orbits. See article.
g Message - Science fiction author David Brin offers a copy of his 1983 article “Xenology: The Science of Asking Who’s Out There”. While two decades old, the information is still relevant and offers a good overview of fundamental astrobiological questions. See article.
g Learning - A team of scientists has debunked six myths about the world supposedly ending in 2012 according to an ancient Mayan prophecy. See article.
g Aftermath - Before it was published, Richard Zare suspected that the paper proposing that a meteorite from Mars once hosted alien life would be a media sensation. It was. What Zare didn't expect was the course that the scientific debate has taken. He thought that the resulting discourse would be skeptical and opinionated, but also highly reasoned and dispassionate. But because of the high stakes ­ nothing less than the first discovery of alien life ­ and the intensity of the media spotlight, the scientific interchange has proven to be highly emotional and highly disruptive, he said. See paper. Note: This article is from 1997.

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Social impact humanity will have upon discovering life elsewhere and arguments for and against manned space exploration

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Recently, Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, spoke with Anastasia Romanou, associate research scientist at NASA GISS, about the need for precise local measurements of climate phenomena. Local measurements can provide information about the real impacts of climate change. See article.
g Message - Looking for a club to join? Try The SETI League. The league’s site has a lot of great information for everyone from the beginner to accomplished technogeek.
g Cosmicus - Two scientists, writing exclusively for Physics World, present their arguments for and against manned or robotic space missions.
g Aftermath - With humanity now on the verge of being capable to leave its home world, Earth, scientists have begun to wrestle with the consequences of this next great journey; of the social impact humanity will have upon discovering life elsewhere, be it fossil, bacterial or an intelligent civilization. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

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Sun-like stars best for finding ETI and first contact’s theological implications

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - The most probable place to find intelligent life in the galaxy is around stars very similar to our sun, a new study has found. See article.
g Message - If we are not alone in the Universe, why have we never picked up signals from an extraterrestrial civilization? Known as the Fermi paradox after physicist Enrico Fermi, who first posed the question, this long-standing puzzle remains one of the strongest arguments against the existence of intelligent aliens. But two physicists say they have come up with a solution. They suggest a way in which aliens could send messages to each other across space that not only disguises their locations but also makes it impossible for a casual observer to even distinguish the messages from background noise. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - Russian space chiefs are considering plans for a manned spacecraft with a nuclear powerplant aboard, according to reports. Indications are that the nuclear kit would provide electrical power rather than being used directly for propulsion. See article.
g Learning - Teaching kids science can be both a rewarding and fun experience. Science plays and important and crucial role in the education of the newest generation. 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 reviews.

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New data about how rocky planets form and long delays in verifying possible ETI signals

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - On its final flyby of Mercury, NASA's Messenger spacecraft has captured images of never before seen regions of the planet. Messenger is providing new scientific findings about the closest planet to the sun, and teaching astrobiologists about how rocky planets form and evolve. See article.
g Intelligence - Claude Levi-Strauss, the French philosopher widely considered the father of modern anthropology because of his then-revolutionary conclusion that so-called primitive societies did not differ greatly intellectually from modern ones, died Friday at his home in Paris from natural causes. See article.
g Message - Most SETI programs scan the sky looking for strong radio signals. Any signals that are deemed interesting are put on a list for follow-up observations weeks, months — even years later. Long delays in verification of potential ET signals sometimes generate tantalizing, but ultimately frustrating, stories. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - By travelling to the outer solar system, the two Voyager spacecraft allowed us to see amazing details of far-distant planets and moons. See article.
g Aftermath - Contrary to common expectations, evidence of extraterrestrials is likely bad (though valuable) news, one thinker on astrobiology says. In fact, the easier it was for life to evolve to our stage, the bleaker our future chances probably are. See article. Note: This article is from 1998.


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How Darwin can help us find little green men and the first optical frequency comb

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Can Darwin help us find little green men? See article.
g Message - Just as our own robots reach out beyond the solar system, searching for life elsewhere may well involve hailing some kind of space artifact in our own neighborhood. At least one style of life search is about looking for the technological evidence of life, rather than its wet biology. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - Scientists have built the first optical frequency comb — a tool for precisely measuring different frequencies of visible light—that actually looks like a comb. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: In “Cosmic Company,” Seth Shostak and Alex Barnett ponder the possibility of aliens visiting the Earth, as well as the consequences of receiving a signal from the cosmos proving we're neither alone, nor the most intelligent life forms. They explain why scientists think life might exist on other worlds, and how we might contact it. Shostak and Barnett, experienced writers of popular astronomy, provide an accessible overview of the science and technology behind the search for life in the universe. See reviews.

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Ultra-primitive dust and a sign of alien intelligence

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Dust samples collected by high-flying aircraft in the upper atmosphere have yielded an unexpectedly rich trove of relicts from the ancient cosmos, report scientists from the Carnegie Institution. The stratospheric dust includes minute grains that likely formed inside stars that lived and died long before the birth of our sun, as well as material from molecular clouds in interstellar space. This "ultra-primitive" material likely wafted into the atmosphere after the Earth passed through the trail of an Earth-crossing comet in 2003, giving scientists a rare opportunity to study cometary dust in the laboratory. See article.
g Message - What would be a sign of alien intelligence? Forget mathematics — try a simple, pure-tone radio signal. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - Some scientists believe that we are on the brink of big changes in planetary exploration. Future robotic explorers might be nothing like what we see today, and the new technologies could have benefits for astrobiologists. See article.
g Aftermath - Astronomers are searching hard for that first interstellar phone-call from ET. But when it happens, how will we react? Will it be a major trauma for humankind, or a new beginning? See article.

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The Great Oxidation Event and how SETI knows it’s received a real signal

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Scientists widely accept that the Earth's atmosphere underwent a dramatic rise in oxygen 2.4 billion years ago, which ultimately paved the way for complex life on our planet. New research has helped solve some important questions surrounding this “Great Oxidation Event.” See article.
g Message - Picture Jodie Foster, her eyes closed and a mildly bored look on her face. She’s wearing earphones and listening to the dull roar of the cosmos. Now imagine Jodie 20 seconds later, when she hears something sounding like an unpleasant accident in the Boston Pops’ percussion section. Jodie knows she’s scored big: The aliens are on the air. Still, how can she be sure she’s picked up intelligence, and not just the cosmic gurgle of a completely natural object? How can she know she’s not merely harkening to the ticking beat of a pulsar, the whoosh of a quasar, or perhaps the lasing bray of a molecular gas cloud? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - Chemists have developed a technology to rapidly assess the presence of microbial life on spacecraft. The method will help in decontaminating spacecraft before launch, and could have medical and pharmaceutical uses on Earth. See article.
g Aftermath - The recent Hollywood movie “War of the Worlds” by Steven Spielberg garnered much attention, but it was nothing like that accorded the 1938 radio version of H.G. Wells' novel. The extent of the panic that broadcast caused is still debated. So what really happened that night? See article.

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Mysterious haze at galaxy’s center and ‘Extraterrestrial Intelligence’

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - In the latest episode of their continuing efforts to embrace and understand the dark side of creation, astronomers sifting data from a new satellite say they have discerned the existence of a mysterious haze of high-energy particles surrounding the center of the Milky Way galaxy. See article.
g Abodes - Three astronomers, following in the footsteps of no less illustrious a predecessor than Galileo, have discovered a new ring around the planet Saturn. 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 - European Space Agency leaders appear to be closing in on a solution for a Mars lander initiative that would reconcile technological and science goals with available budgets. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: Science fiction writers have given us many fine novels contemplating humankind's first contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. But our nonfiction world has not thought much about what to do if we are actually faced with this situation. Jean Heidmann, chief astronomer at the Paris Observatory (and self-styled bioastronomer), offers “Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” a book on the subject that is at once serious and fun. Heidmann's obvious joy in raw speculation - all of it grounded in real science - is contagious. If aliens send us a message from many light years away, for example, how should we respond? Heidmann reviews the protocols established in the SETI Declaration and then offers his own suggestion: Send them the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica. See reviews.

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Most distant object in universe spotted and what non-astronomers can teach SETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Astronomers have discovered evidence of the oldest and most distant cosmic event ever detected, a burst from a dying star that occurred 13 billion years ago, very soon after the birth of the universe. Scientists hope the discovery of the ancient explosion will bring new insights into the evolution of the cosmos. See article.
g Abodes - The oceans of Earth play an essential role in making our planet habitable for life as we know it. The future of our oceans, however, may be in jeopardy. Recently, Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, discussed how anoxic waters may affect the biosphere in years to come. See article.
g Message - Interstellar communication took a giant leap forward a few months ago when a Ukrainian space center sent several messages across the cosmos hoping to reach extraterrestrials 30-40 light years away. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - The Australian government is signaling its intent to become a player in the space business by announcing plans to set up a formal national space policy, steered by a small group to facilitate the fledgling venture. See article.
g Aftermath - Do archaeologists and anthropologists have anything to teach the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, where encounters are at the distance of light-years, and a round-trip exchange could take millennia? See article. Note: This article is from 2005.

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Mars rocket passes test and ‘Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials’

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - During the last ice age, massive glaciers covered much of our planet. However, a region of Alaska, Siberia and the Canadian Yukon remained ice-free. This region, known as Beringia, supported unique organisms and was an important haven for evolution. Now, scientists may have uncovered how Beringia supported such diversity at a time when conditions for life were harsh. See article.
g Life - By using a tourist, sight-seeing Zeppelin airship to study halophilic, extremophile organisms in the San Francisco Bay salt ponds, scientists are looking for clues that could indicate the consequences of climate change through modeling ecosystem change. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA successfully test fired a new rocket that's designed to replace the aging space shuttle and could one day be used for missions to Mars. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: “Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials,” by Michael Michaud, describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. As necessary background, the book also included brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create. See reviews.

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Working definition of ‘extraterrestrial life” and how the search for ETI transforms society

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Researchers have discovered connections between volcanoes and a deadly ice age that occurred 450 million years ago. The study reports that the volcanoes may have release massive amounts of carbon dioxide, causing global warming. However, when they stopped erupting, an ice age began. See article.
g Life - It's not easy to look for life somewhere other than Earth. First, scientists searching for life in space have to come up with a working definition of “extraterrestrial life.” Next, they need to develop a strategy identifying places and methods for their search. To make matters more complicated, all of this has to be done without contaminating the search site with life from Earth or contaminating Earth with potential extraterrestrial life. 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. For info on Voyager’s golden record, see article. For an explanation of the record cover diagram, click here. For an interactive module that contains greetings, sounds, and pictures included on the record (requires Flash plug-in), click here.
g Cosmicus - The climactic rocket showdown for a million-dollar prize from NASA has begun in California's Mojave Desert. See article.
g Learning - The Carl Sagan Prize will not exactly swell one's bank account, but it means a lot to Geoff Marcy, a UC Santa Cruz alum and UC Berkeley astronomer famous for discovering many of the known planets outside the solar system. See article.
g Aftermath - The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence cannot guarantee success in a trivial, superficial sense (that is in the form of the discovery of an alien civilization). But at its deeper levels SETI certainly stimulates and influences our thoughts and transforms our society in profound ways. See article.

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Examining Antarctica to understand alien worlds and advertising our presence to ETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The Hot Zone recently discussed ocean acidification and what it could mean for the future climate of Earth. Earlier this month expert panels organized by the United Nations discussed ocean acidification and the future of Earth's marine ecosystems. See article.
g Life - There's not much in the ice-covered lakes in the McMurdo Dry Valleys to interest anglers looking to land the big one. But for scientists who want to know more about some of Earth's earliest organisms - and, by extension, to recognize what life may look like on other planets - those unique ecosystems represent a useful portal to the past. See article.
g Message - Just how does SETI work? Here’s a good primer for those looking to get a basic overview.
g Cosmicus - At times, NASA's attempts to launch a new Ares I-X rocket Tuesday seemed surreal — with bad weather, a stuck sensor sock and a wayward cargo ship offshore appearing to conspire to prevent the booster's liftoff. But believe it or not, there have been stranger things to pop up in NASA's launch history. See article.
g Aftermath - It is sometimes said that the best form of advertising is education. But what products would our global marketplace tolerate at the borders of an encounter with another, perhaps far different civilization? To get some perspective, an expert entertains the question of how to advertise our presence to a more universal demographic. See article. Note: This article came out in 2004.

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Chemical building blocks for planets and the Arecibo message

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - NASA's IBEX spacecraft has made it possible for scientists to construct the first comprehensive sky map of our solar system and its location in the Milky Way. The new view will help researchers study the interaction between our galaxy and sun, and the conditions that allow for habitability in our solar system. See article.
g Abodes - A new study shows how rocky planets are formed from the manic swirl of gas and dust that surround a young star, and determines what chemical building blocks are used to construct the planets. Understanding the dynamics and chemistry that create planetary systems can help astronomers in their search for Earth-like planets in the galaxy. See article.
g Life - Fossils of marine creatures about 270 million years old found at Cessnock have attracted NASA's attention, and could help unlock answers to how life began. See article.
g Message - In 1974, astronomers sent the "Arecibo message," a binary-coded signal that decodes to a graphic illustrating some basic characteristics of Earth. The message was intended more to demonstrate the power of the telescope than to contact distant civilizations. Cornell's 25th anniversary announcement includes a decoded explanation and more information about what the scientists were thinking. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA’s first flight test of its Ares I-X booster is only slated to last two minutes, but it represents the culmination of years of work by the rocket-minded ATK Space Systems in Utah and almost 1,000 other NASA workers and private contractors across 17 states. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: The authentic discovery of extraterrestrial life would usher in a scientific revolution on par with Copernicus or Darwin, writes 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.

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Looking for ETI using near-infrared laser communications and intriguing times in the exploration of other solar-system bodies

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Genetic information from an extinct species of bison preserved in permafrost for thousands of years could help improve modern agricultural livestock and breeding programs. See article.
g Message - What are the advantages of looking for ET using near-infrared laser communications? There’s a good explanation at a University of Kentucky Web site.
g Aftermath - These are intriguing times in the exploration of other solar-system bodies. Continuing discoveries about life on Earth and the return of data suggesting the presence of liquid water environments on or under the surfaces of other planets and moons have combined to suggest the significant possibility that extraterrestrial life may exist in this solar system. Similarly, not since the Viking missions of the mid-1970s has there been as great an appreciation for the potential for Earth life to contaminate other worlds. Current plans for the exploration of the solar system include constraints intended to prevent biological contamination from being spread by solar-system exploration missions. See article.

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Yet more proof of evolution and phoning home intergalactically

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Book alert: What lies beneath Europa's icy crust? Richard Greenberg has been pondering this question for 30-odd years. His new book, "Unmasking Europa", describes his view that Europa's hidden ocean and the life forms it may support are not that far below the surface. A professor in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona, Greenberg was one of the first to formulate how tidal forces could shape the geology on Jovian moons. Greenberg's research on Europa was highlighted in another recent Abodes entry.
g Life - A 21-year Michigan State University experiment that distills the essence of evolution in laboratory flasks not only demonstrates natural selection at work, but could lead to biotechnology and medical research advances, researchers said. See article.
g Message - Phoning home intergalactically may have one natural prerequisite if a civilization is hoping to connect: timing their precursor signal or “ring” so that we might know that they're broadcasting. Dr. Robin Corbet, of the Universities' Space Research Association, discusses his research findings on Synchronized SETI. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Cosmicus - Tiny crystals could hold the key to creating computers with massive storage capacity, scientists believe. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a great NASA Web site for kids: Astro-venture, where children can search for and design their own planet..
g Aftermath - Here’s one futurist’s thoughts about what will happen to humanity when we make first contact with aliens. I offer this site not for its scientific rigor but as an example of something all of us who care about astrobiology should consider: What are the trends in popular culture about first contact? Such thinking will greatly influence public reaction when first contact actually does occur. See article.

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Lowly algae causes mass extinctions and history of SETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Supervolcanoes and cosmic impacts get all the terrible glory for causing mass extinctions, but a new theory suggests lowly algae may be the killer behind the world's great species annihilations. See article.
g Intelligence - Over-expressing a gene that lets brain cells communicate just a fraction of a second longer makes a smarter rat, report researchers. See article.
g Message - Want to get a sense of SETI’s history and varying projects? Jodrell Bank Observatory offers an easy to follow yet informative primer.
g Learning - In past entries, I’ve noted a neat science fiction alien reading list from Prof. Joan Slonczewski, who taught “Biology 103: Biology in Science Fiction” at Kenyon College in 2003. Her students, using astrobiological principles, attempted to create a number of plausible alien civilizations and worlds as a class project. One of the projects was a “biology bedtime story” for kids, “Ellie and Oscar’s Trip”.
g Aftermath - In our everyday lives, we sometimes emulate computers, though typically without their full precision. When we do a favor for someone, more often than we’d like to admit, we keep an informal tally of who owes us, and how much. According to sociobiologists, who attempt to explain behavior in terms of its value for survival, such calculations might have a biological basis. And as we will see, they may also provide some clues to communicating with life beyond Earth. See article.

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Our solar system’s boundaries and the mind boggling alternatives of ETI’s existence

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Galactic magnetic fields may control boundaries of our solar system. See article.
g Abodes - How does the Moon produce its own water? See article.
g Intelligence - Without it international travel would be in turmoil and calling friends in faraway places at the right time impossible. Exactly 125 years after the Greenwich Meridian line was drawn, how and why did Britain become the centre of time? See article.
g Message - What if we examined how to communicate with extraterrestrials from a telecommunication engineer’s point of view? That’s the approach of Brian McConnell’s book, “Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations.” Though the book has been out a few years now, it’s still worth a read if you haven’t already delved into it. For more about the book and an interview with McConnell, click here.
g Cosmicus - Astrophysicists found that the moon's surface becomes electrified during each full moon. The moon passes through the Earth's magnetotail, a cone of highly-charged particles, for about 6 days each month. On the side of the moon facing the sun, ultraviolet particles disrupt the electromagnetic effect, keeping the voltage at low levels, but on the dark side, the voltage can reach hundreds or thousands of volts. See article.
g Learning - What types of work do people do when searching for life elsewhere? Find out while meeting some of the most famous astrobiologists. See article.
g Aftermath - Finding out that we are alone in the universe or a suburb of a huge village of other star folk - either alternative is mind boggling. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

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Some of Earth’s minerals came from outer space and a memorial to Big Ear

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Researchers have presented a new view of the region of the sun’s influence, or heliosphere, and the forces that shape it. See article.
g Abodes - According to a new study by geologists, the wealth of some minerals that lie in the rock beneath the Earth's surface may be extraterrestrial in origin. See article.
g Life - Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction. See article.
g Intelligence - Centenarians with the bodies of 50-year-olds will one day be a realistic possibility, say scientists. See article.
g Message - In late 1997, after almost 40 years of operation, the Ohio State University Radio Observatory and its "Big Ear" radio telescope — which picked up the famous “Wow!” signal — ceased operation. The land on which the observatory was sitting (owned by the Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio) was sold in 1983 to land developers who later claimed their rights to develop the property. The telescope was destroyed in early 1998. Here’s a Web page memorial to Big Ear.
g Cosmicus - Teleportation, time travel, antimatter and wireless electricity. It all sounds far-fetched, more fiction than fact, but it's all true. See article.
g Learning - A new exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's work is set to open in the Vatican. See article.
g Aftermath - Few terms in the space vocabulary are as polarizing as this three-letter acronym: UFO. For some, it represents not just Unidentified Flying Objects, but a virtual universe of extraterrestrial visitations, alien abductions, and—of course—a vast web of government and multinational conspiracies to deny their presence. To others, it’s a symbol of hoaxes and fantasies or, at best, wishful thinking. For those in the latter camp, there might be some trepidation to pick up a book titled “Beyond UFOs”. Rest assured, though: despite the presence of that three-letter acronym, this book is actually a solid, factually-based look at the science of astrobiology and the prospects for lif e— intelligent or otherwise — elsewhere in the universe. See reviews.

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Nearly three-dozen exoplanets discovered and NASA’s new rocket

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Astronomers have reported 32 new exoplanets discovered using the HARPS spectrograph for ESO's 3.6-meter telescope. HARPS has provided a boost in the number of planets that are only a few times more massive than Earth. Some of these low-mass planets rest close to the habitable zone of their host stars. See article.
g Message - Among the most important SETI work is being done at Harvard University. The Harvard SETI home page discusses the Radio Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, The Arecibo Search for Early Hydrogen and Optical SETI.
g Cosmicus - ASA's lofty new rocket arrived at the launching pad Tuesday for a test flight next week that comes at a time when the future of the country's spaceflight program is up in the air. See article.
g Aftermath - After decades of searching, scientists have found no trace of extraterrestrial intelligence. Now, some of them hope to make contact by broadcasting messages to the stars. Are we prepared for an answer? See article.

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Sad facts about teaching science in public education and the CIA’s fear of alien invasion

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Norwegian scientists have found “mummified” pine trees, dead for nearly 500 years yet without decomposition. See article.
g Message - Here are some moving excerpts from the written testimony submitted by Neil deGrasse Tyson, Department of Astrophysics and Hayden Planetarium, American Museum of Natural History, to the "Life in the Universe" hearings held by the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics in 2001.
g Learning - Here’s an amazing figure: Teaching the age and history of our planet is included in only 55 percent of our 50 states’ science education standards. See article. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Aftermath - A raft of newly unclassified CIA documents reveal that the remote possibility of alien invasion elicited greater fear than a Soviet nuclear attack. See article.

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Plenty of oxygen on Europa for microorganisms and does life need to be carbon-based?

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - New research suggests that there is plenty of oxygen available in the subsurface ocean of Europa to support oxygen-based metabolic processes for life similar to that on Earth. In fact, there may be enough oxygen to support complex, animal-like organisms with greater oxygen demands than microorganisms. See article.
g Life - Life as we know it is entirely carbon-based (made of molecules mostly composed of carbon atoms). Though we cannot presently imagine life forms that are not carbon-based, when searching for alien life it is good to keep our eyes open, in case our imagination has failed us! See article.
g Message - Just exactly how does SETI work? See primer.
g Cosmicus - If humans were forced to vacate Earth, where is the next best place in our solar system for us to live? A study by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo has provided a quantitative evaluation of habitability to identify the potential habitats in our solar system. Professor Abel Mendez, who produced the study also looked at how the habitability of Earth has changed in the past, finding that some periods were even better than today. See article.
g Aftermath - What would an intelligent signal from another planet change about human destiny? This large question is the topic of the book “The SETI Factor,” by Frank White, who also analyzes how to announce such an historic finding and whether it would unite or divide nations. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

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Using pollution to find ETI and how instruments for future Mars missions are tested on Earth

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - A dusty red planet and an icy moon of Jupiter may hold the best hopes for scientists trying to track down extraterrestrial life, at least in this solar system. See article.
g Intelligence - Scientists have proposed what seems like an obvious solution to finding life on other planets—look for pollution similar to that found on Earth. Light or air pollution would be a dead giveaway to life on another planet, according to a study to appear in the journal Astrobiology. See article.
g Message - A picture is worth a thousand words, especially if you're trying to get your point across to someone who doesn't speak your language. At least that has been the assumption of many proposals for communicating with extraterrestrials; in a recent image beamed into outer space, the world’s largest radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, images of a human being, the double helix of DNA and our solar system were included. But would pictures necessarily be understood at interstellar distances? See article. Note: This article is from 2000.
g Cosmicus - In this blog entry, Juan Diego Rodriguez Blanco from the AMASE 2009 team discusses how instruments for future Mars missions are tested on Earth. This year, equipment for ESA's ExoMars mission and NASA's Mars Science Laboratory were put through the ropes on the Arctic island of Svalbard. See article.
g Aftermath - High-tech telescopes on the ground and in space that perform daunting astronomical peep shows in a search for Earth-like worlds aim to answer one of humankind's most monumental questions: "Are we alone?" There is on-going deliberation relating to the societal, philosophical and religious fallout that stems from resolving such a stellar inquiry. See article.

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Four-in-a-million chance of asteroid collision and lunch-punch mission no flop

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - NASA scientists have recalculated the path of a large asteroid and determined that it is less likely to have a hazardous encounter with Earth than previously thought. The chances of Apophis hitting the Earth in 2036 are now thought to be about four-in-a-million. See article.
g Message - How will we decode any message from ET? For some speculation and a discussion of the inherent difficulties, see article; Part II follows here. Note: This story is from 2001.
g Cosmicus - NASA's recent lunar-punch mission apparently was not the high-profile flop it first appeared. See article.
g Aftermath - It's a familiar problem. You've finally managed to contact that alien civilization. Things are going great. You feel like your world will never be the same — that whole new realms of possibilities are opening up before your eyes. Then, inevitably, a hint of strain starts to creep into your relationship. You find that you don't really have all that much in common. Heck, sometimes it feels like you're not even in the same galaxy. It's as if there is this vast gulf between you, making communication almost impossible. You're not even sure you'd understand each other no matter how physically close you become. What do you do? See article.


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Enceladus named most likely candidate for life and a guide to communicating with alien civilizations

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Enceladus, a small moon of Saturn, has been named the most likely place to find life in the Solar System other than on Earth by researchers at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. See article.
g Message - A team of American scientists note that recent astrophysical discoveries suggest that we should find ourselves in the midst of one or more extraterrestrial civilizations. Moreover, they argue it is a mistake to reject all UFO reports since some evidence for the theoretically predicted extraterrestrial visitors might just be found there. See article. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Learning - The world is not coming to an end on Dec. 21, 2012, contrary to the viral Internet rumor propounded by pseudo-scientists, hoaxers, Hollywood movie promoters and assorted void-between-the-ears people who wouldn't recognize a scientific fact if it tried to abduct them. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: As many Earthlings already know —including more than 2 million computer users with firsthand experience — our best hope for finding extraterrestrial intelligence might just lie with an ingenious little screensaver. So it's not surprising that “Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations” (by Brian S. McConnell), an introduction to searching for and communicating with intelligent life, begins with some of the details behind UC Berkeley's groundbreaking, massively distributed SETI@home project, which processes intergalactic noise for pennies on the teraflop. But that's just the start of the story. Inventor and software developer Brian McConnell continues with an overview of whether and why we might find something out there, who's doing what to look for it (including the folks at Berkeley), and — once some ET picks up on the other end — what we might say and how we might say it. This last problem, which occupies the final half of the book, proves to be the most thought provoking, and McConnell has put together a methodical, nuts-and-bolts walkthrough of both the challenges involved and how binary code might be enlisted to solve them. For reviews, see reviews.

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Earth’s early atmosphere and a homegrown SETI effort

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The atmosphere of the early Earth may have been filled with particulate haze, much like a smoggy day in Los Angeles. This hazy air would have affected the ancient climate and even may have influenced the origin and evolution of life. See article.
g Message - The search for extraterrestrial life need not be limited to the government or scientists. Don’t believe it? Then check out this Web site, “Amateur SETI: Project BAMBI (Bob and Mike’s Big Investment)”, which describes the design and construction of a 4 GHz amateur radio telescope dedicated to SETI.
g Cosmicus - With every spacecraft that leaves Earth, millions of microbes hitch a ride into space. As astrobiologists search for life in other worlds, preventing forward and back contamination remains a key priority. See article.
g Learning - Four high school students will have their heads in the clouds – and even higher – during an exclusive aerospace symposium in Ottawa this weekend. See article.
g Aftermath - Decades after Hollywood first made the leap between alien life and the threat of contamination, a scientist has issued a similar warning. U.S. Geological Survey geologist Jeffrey Kargel says convincing evidence uncovered by NASA's robotic rover Opportunity that water once flowed on Mars means scientists should proceed cautiously in bringing back potentially germ-laden samples of the Red Planet. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

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Neighboring galaxy’s cosmic misfits and various thoughts of Fermi’s Paradox

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - A stunning new image reveals one of our nearest galactic neighbors, Barnard's Galaxy, also known as NGC 6822. The galaxy contains regions of rich star formation and curious nebulae, such as the bubble clearly visible in the upper left of this remarkable vista. The strange shapes of these cosmic misfits help researchers understand how galaxies interact, evolve and occasionally "cannibalize" each other, leaving behind radiant, star-filled scraps. See article.
g Abodes - Geophysicists determined that tectonic mountain-building processes are not the only factor that determines elevation in North America. The temperature of the crust affects its density, and lower density crust will rise higher than colder, higher density crust. The heat in question comes from the Earthýs interior and also radioactive decay of various elements in the crust. Broadly, the Rocky Mountain region of the United States has the hottest crust, as well as the highest general elevation. See article.
g Message - Here’s a nice summary of various astrobiological authors on the Fermi Paradox, or the question of why, if there supposedly are so many aliens, we haven’t met any of them yet.
g Cosmicus - Researchers are developing a new type of rocket fuel made from a frozen mixture of water and “nanoscale aluminum'” powder. The fuel would be more environmentally friendly, and could be manufactured on the moon, Mars or other water-bearing bodies. Such fuels could play an important role in future missions beyond our planet. See article.
g Aftermath - Though an older Web posting, “After Contact, Then What?” shows how little we’ve thought about this question.

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Is contacting ETI even ethical and Earth’s environment in 2 billion BCE

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The strikingly banded rocks scattered across the upper Midwest and elsewhere throughout the world are actually ambassadors from the past, offering clues to the environment of the early Earth more than 2 billion years ago. See article.
g Message - Is it even ethical for us to contact alien life? See article. Note: This article is a few years old.
g Aftermath - If we ever make contact with intelligent aliens, we should be able to build a universal translator to communicate with them, according to a linguist and anthropologist. See article.

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Searching for ETI Down Under and vegetarian spider

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The Hot Zone recently featured a conversation with Dr. Philip Rasch of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Dr. Rasch and his team created mathematical models of what the Earth’s climate might look like in the future. See article.
g Life - Scientists have found the first vegetarian spider. See article.
g Message - What are our friends south of the equator doing in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence? After all, the Northern Hemisphere only covers half of the galaxy. See article.
g Aftermath - It is hard to imagine what an extraterrestrial life form might think if confronted with the words "you're human / they are human / we are human / let's try to be human / dance!" See article. Note: This article is from 2005.

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