Dark matter map, partial victory for children and Andorians

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 – Hubble Space Telescope data, analyzed by a Yale astronomer using gravitational lensing techniques, has generated a spatial map demonstrating the clumped substructure of dark matter inside clusters of galaxies. See article.
g Abodes – From the awesome power of the Earth files: The 9.0 earthquake that caused the devastating South Asia tsunami was felt around the world in the United States. See the story done by a Pennsylvania newspaper here.
g Life – Need a good online reference to dinosaurs? I recently stumbled across this site, Dinosauria On-Line, which is intended to give the reader a broader exposure to dinosaur science. It’s meant for the serious enthusiast and rank amateur alike. Discussions are both technical and at a level at which those without formal education in paleontology can understand and enjoy. See dinosauria.com.
g Intelligence – Are thinking beings like us merely bit players in the enormous drama of the cosmos? Or is intelligence destined to become something vastly more important: the architect of this universe and of other universes to come? Such questions are the topic of this week’s SETI radio show, “Are We Alone?” which airs at 5 p.m. CST each Sunday on Radio America. Click here for more about the program and on which stations you can catch it.
g Message – You probably saw “The Search for Other Earths” cover of the December National Geographic. Here’s the article online.
g Cosmicus – The Air Force weather team is predicting favorable conditions for Wednesday's blastoff of the Boeing Delta 2 rocket carrying NASA's Deep Impact comet probe. For more on the mission, see article.
g Learning – Our children's education won a partial victory in Harrisburg, Pa., Friday when the local school district that required science teachers to read a statement about alternatives to the theory of evolution decided that teachers can opt out of reading it — administrators instead will. My proposal for Harrisburg is to adopt a statement that is read whenever geography is taught in social studies: “Our knowledge of the Earth’s geography is incomplete and consists of many gaps. Students should be aware that there are many alternatives to our current body of geographical knowledge, including the flat Earth theory.” Read about the lunacy.
g Imagining – Though Star Trek’s Andorians were shown own briefly in a few episodes of The Original Series, they remained among the most popular aliens of the franchise. The history and hopefully clues about their evolution will be given in upcoming episodes of “Enterprise” this month. In the meantime, here are some cleverly done fan sites about the Andorian culture. As reading them, look at how the speculations lilt with anthropomorphic motifs: An indication that even when it comes to something “alien,” humans have a difficult time letting go of our perspectives. See article and followup.
g Aftermath – Here’s an intriguing article that is frequently referenced in astrobiology papers: "The Consequences of a Discovery: Different Scenarios" by astronomer Ivan Almar. Note: This article is from 1995.


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