Poor man's space probe, self-esteem and societal implications of astrobiology

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 – Poor man’s space probe: To see the world in a grain of sand has a resonant poetry when astronomers try to understand the rain of dust and meteors that blanket the Earth daily. Doing astronomy with a microscope has its benefits, though, particularly when the extraterrestrial samples arrive at our doorstep. See article.
g Abodes – Culminating more than four years of processing data, NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency have completed Earth's most extensive global topographic map. The data, extensive enough to fill the U.S. Library of Congress, was gathered during the Space Shuttle Endeavor Radar Topography Mission in February 2000. See article.
g Life – Predatory insects do not have access to the barrage of diet advice thrust at people, but they still manage to vary what they eat to get balanced nutrition, research shows. See article.
g Intelligence – Self-esteem can be an empty value if it's not tempered with a sense of responsibility and social awareness, psychology experts say. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Message – The idle processing power of millions of computers, turned to look for a stray signal from billions of stars, now has a target: 150 promising signals to be handled again in a new SETI@home project. See article. This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus – Russia's space agency Roskosmos announced that it would stop giving free rides to US astronauts beginning in 2006. US space shuttles have been grounded since February 2003, when the shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry; NASA has relied on the Russian workhorse spacecraft for transportation to the orbital outpost. See article.
g Aftermath – Here’s an intriguing read: the final report of “The Workshop on the Societal Implications of Astrobiology”. Note: Workshop was held in 1999.

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