Magnetic fields, space station troubles and the Guardian of Forever

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 – For the first time, a team of astronomers has detected the presence of magnetic fields in the central stars of four planetary nebulae. Theories suggest that magnetic fields play a role in shaping planetary nebulae, the cradle of new planets. See article.
g Abodes – Another example of what happens when politicians and the common man don’t understand science: Madras University’s Department of Applied Geology says it had predicted the earthquake in the Sumatra region, four days before it occurred, triggering the devastating tsunami on Dec. 26. See article.
g Life – In a blink of geologic time, an eagle the weight of a squirrel evolved into a giant predator that fed on animals twice as big as humans. See article.
g Intelligence – Overlooked for at least a century because there was no pottery or gold, a sand-swept region of archaeological sites in north-central Peru is now believed to be the place where cultural evolution in the Andes — and in the Americas, for that matter — first diverged from simple hunting and gathering into complex society. 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 – The Elektron oxygen generator aboard the international space station shut down New Year's Day, and after three unsuccessful attempts to flush air bubbles from the device astronauts were forced to tap into oxygen reserves aboard a Russian supply ship today. See article.
g Learning – What's the most important tech matter for the New Year? In Chicago, it’s math and science education. See article.
g Imagining – Could Star Trek’s Guardian of Forever — the ancient portal that does not know if it’s a machine or a life form (go here and click on "The Guardian of Forever") — evolve? The Guardian likely is an intelligent, self-aware machine. Presuming that time travel to the past is even possible, the enormous energy required to accomplish this task likely wouldn’t arise in a naturally evolving organic creature. Instead, it probably would be done mechanically (though organic elements might be incorporated into the machine’s components). Of course, a significant motif of science fiction is the question if artificial constructs that gain self-awareness then also “life” (as in The Next Generation android Data). A civilization capable of creating a stable time portal almost certainly also would be capable of creating an intelligent, self-aware machine. In short, the Guardian didn’t evolve via survival of the fittest but was built.
g Aftermath – How will major world religions be affected by the reception ofradio transmissions from an extraterrestrial intelligence? Here’s an interesting project that posits some possible scenarios.

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