Spirit turns one, girls' science education and 'Star Trek' biology

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 lit a birthday candle today for its twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. The Spirit rover begins its second year on Mars investigating puzzling rocks unlike any found before. See article. By the way, NOVA will examine the progress of our rovers, a largely astrobiological mission, at 7 p.m. CST Tuesday. The hour-long program is on PBS.
g Abodes – Imagine a lake three times the size of present-day Lake Ontario breaking through a dam and flooding down the Hudson River Valley past New York City and into the North Atlantic. The results would be catastrophic if it occurred today, but it did happen some 13,400 years ago during the retreat of glaciers over North America. It may have triggered a brief cooling known as the Intra-Allerod Cold Period. See article.
g Life – Fossil records of the holes drilled in clamshells before and after a mass extinction two million years ago show patterns of predator-prey behavior indicating that although diversity recovered rapidly, the level of competition had not, according to an article in the journal Science. See article.
g Intelligence – It might be hard to believe in these days of driving the SUV to the corner store, but people are actually pretty fast on their feet. Endurance running might have played an important role in human evolution. See article.
g Message – A few younger readers since the Jan. 1 entry have asked to hear more about the Drake equation. Glad to oblige! There’s a fairly good explanation at Space.com TV; see article and click on “Figure the odds on ET!”
g Cosmicus – Get ready for two of the strangest hours in the history of space exploration. Two hours is how long it will take the European Space Agency's Huygens probe to parachute to the surface of Titan on Jan. 14. Descending through thick orange clouds, Huygens will taste Titan’s atmosphere, measure its wind and rain, listen for alien sounds and, when the clouds part, start taking pictures. See article.
g Learning – Among the most significant science education problems today is getting girls interested in science and math engineering. As part of the effort to address the issue, an Iowa woman has published a book about volcanoes in the solar system (see article). Meanwhile, an Iowa high school student has formed a science club for girls (see article). It's good to see solutions to this issue receiving some press. For background on the problem, Londoner Lisa Sturge wrote a succinct description and offered some good solutions in “Tapping the Talent;” while the report is British and was done in 1996, the issues are the same in America and Canada and still relevant in 2005. If you have a daughter or mentor girls in any way, please click here.
g Imagining – While I’m researching our next alien, browse the local used bookstores for this volume, which examined the scientific plausibility of many alien creatures in “Star Trek”: “To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek.” Published about four years ago, Athena Andreadis' book makes a good read, boosted by her background as a molecular biologist and neurosurgeon. See review.

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