Beyond Einstein and methane lakes

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 – Beyond Einstein: Astronomers have seen evidence of hot iron gas riding a ripple in space-time around a black hole. This space-time wave, if confirmed, would represent a new phenomenon that goes beyond Einstein's general relativity. See article.
g Abodes – Anthony Del Genio of the Cassini Imaging team takes a tour of the strange and perplexing world, Titan, where hurricane winds and supercold smog promise some of the most startling imagery in our solar system. The mission to descend towards Titan's surface will draw global attention in a few days, when a tiny space probe tests the limits of parachutes, cameras and communications and perhaps plunges into a methane lake. See article.
g Intelligence – Genes that control the size and complexity of the brain have undergone much more rapid evolution in humans than in non-human primates or other mammals, according to a new study. See article.
g Message – There’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 – A NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name — Deep Impact — blasted off Wednesday on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system. See article. There’s an informative video and interactive graphic at the site.
g Learning – Kudos to several University of Pennsylvania professors and the chairman of the physics department, who wrote an open letter to the Dover, Pa., Area School Board, condemning its incorporation of a religiously-loaded explanation for biodiversity into science classrooms. It’s too bad that at the dawn of the 21st century we must continue this fight against science ignorance. For details, see article. Note: This article is a few years old.
g Aftermath – Understanding the public’s current thoughts on what will happen once humanity discovers extraterrestrial intelligence is a vital part of any objective discussion in which we attempt to predict and prepare for the aftermath. Here’s one person’s view. Note the mix of popular mythology (UFOs) and an almost spiritual notion that the aliens will help us or make our lives better in some ways, as if they were angels descended from the sky. A thought: Is this an indication that if the aliens are technologically superior, we’ll readily accept their ways and let it supplant our own culture?

Read this blogger’s books