Useless DNA fragments, conformist chimps and ‘Indians and Other Aliens’

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 - When the Allen Telescope Array comes online in a few years, its thousand-fold better radio search capabilities will soon exhaust previously cataloged stars with potentially habitable planets. So Margaret Turnbull and Jill Tarter have a new list, called HabCat: A Catalog of Nearby Habitable Stellar Systems. See article. Note: This article is from April 2003.
g Abodes - A number of hypotheses have been used to explain how free oxygen first accumulated in Earth's atmosphere some 2.4 billion years ago, but a full understanding has proven elusive. Now a new model offers plausible scenarios for how oxygen came to dominate the atmosphere, and why it took at least 300 million years after bacterial photosynthesis started producing oxygen in large quantities. See article.
g Life - One of the key motivations for revisiting the probability of life elsewhere in the universe is the surprising proclivity of life in hostile places on Earth. New findings suggest that modern organisms may possess useless DNA fragments today that once saved their ancestors’ lives in extreme environments. See article.
g Intelligence - Chimpanzees want to be just like their friends, at least when it comes to getting food. The social conformity displayed in a new study is a trait previously seen only in humans. See article.
g Message - Here’s an article in which Dave DeBoer, project engineer for the Allen Telescope Array, discusses what the unique telescope will offer. The development of the Allen Telescope Array is marked by many innovations crafted with the express purpose of building a world-class state-of-the-art astronomical facility at a fraction of the price of existing radio telescopes. See article. Note: This article is from October 2003.
g Cosmicus - Mission controllers cross their fingers whenever the Sun is stormy and their spacecraft have to fly over the South Atlantic. There, even satellites in low orbits suffer many hits by atomic bullets from the Sun. Troublesome faults occur in electronic systems and astronauts see flashes in their eyes. See article.
g Learning - An excellent op-ed column appeared in Sunday’s Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal-Gazette about why biology classes shouldn’t teach intelligent design. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Christin Morris’ "Indians and Other Aliens: A Native American View of Science Fiction." It appeared in “Extrapolation 20” (1979).
g Aftermath Among scientists involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, it’s quite common to be focused on the future, ever mindful that it could take years, or even decades, to find a signal from otherworldly intelligence. But if historian Steve Dick has his way, astronomers will also turn their attention toward the past as they search for life beyond Earth — to discover the aftereffects of contact between two intelligent cultures. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

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Robotic astrobiologist, bad news for germophiles and alien disinformation

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 - The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered significant amounts of icy organic materials sprinkled throughout several "planetary construction zones," or dusty planet-forming discs, which circle infant stars. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Abodes - Carnegie Mellon University researchers and their colleagues from NASA's Ames Research Center, the universities of Tennessee, Arizona and Iowa, as well as Chilean researchers at Universidad Catolica del Norte (Antofagasta) are preparing for the final stage of a three-year project to develop a prototype robotic astrobiologist, a robot that can explore and study life in the driest desert on Earth. See article.
g Life - A new way of thinking about the dirt under our feet is sure to dismay germophobes everywhere. Scientists now think Earth's soil contains 100 times more bacteria species than previously thought. See article.
g Intelligence - A study published in the August/October issue of Current Anthropology, reports on new archaeological evidence regarding the identities of human sacrifice victims of the Moche society of Peru. See article.
g Message - Here’s something neat: A site about Project Target, or the Telescope Antenna Researching Galactic Extraterrestrial Transmissions, from Hay River Radio, which boldly proclaims that such signals indeed exist! See article.
g Cosmicus - What is “xenology” and how will our growing understanding of the field send us to the stars? See article. Note: This article, by science fiction writer David Brin, is from the early 1980s.
g Learning - Many Americans, not just scientists, now worry that the teaching of biology will be replaced by religious indoctrination. The spread of fundamentalist Christianity is seen by many to be a force for a renewed far right political agenda, and in particular to be responsible for George W. Bush’s election victory. There is reason to be concerned — consider the recent challenges to teaching evolution in schools. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Walter Earl Meyers’ “Aliens and linguists: language study and science fiction,” published in 1980 by Athens : University of Georgia Press. It’s a very useful and amusing survey of attempts to communicate with aliens in stories by Tolkein, Anderson, LeGuin, Vance, Asimov, Burroughs and Delany.
g Aftermath Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign - one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

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Humpback whales, gambling monkeys and Starship Daedelus

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 - Amateur astronomers are being asked to help a constellation of observatories unravel the mysteries of a puzzling binary star system. See article.
g Abodes - British researchers have hit on a clever way to search for ancient ozone holes and their relationship to mass extinctions: measure the remains of ultraviolet-B absorbing pigments ancient plants left in their fossilized spores and pollen. See article.
g Life - SETI scientists studying the humpback whales’ social and working vocalizations say the creatures’ behaviors may be the most complex in the animal kingdom. See article.
g Intelligence - ASU researcher Ana Pinto is shedding some light on an age-old mystery in anthropology: What was the relationship between Neanderthals and early humans? See article.
g Message - We often assume extraterrestrials will be smart enough to contact us. But what if they aren't? How do we find them then? See article. Note: this article is from 2001; it contains a good overview of the Drake Equation, which the format of this blog is based upon.
g Cosmicus - There’s a neat catalog and collection of links about extrasolar planets that we’ve discovered online at “Other Worlds, Distant Suns.” See article.
g Learning - An outstanding editorial appeared in the New Jersey newspaper The Record on Sunday. “Intelligent design is not science; it's not even a theory,” the editorial rightly states. “It's just a sneaky way to get religion into the classroom by ‘teaching the controversy’ that evolution can't explain all of life's complexities.” See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Brian Stableford’s Daedelus Series: “The Florians” (1976), “Critical Threshold” (1977), “Wildeblood's Empire” (1977), “City of the Sun” (1978), “Balance of Power” (1979) and “Paradox of the Sets” (1979). In the series, the Starship Daedelus recontacts lost colonies with biological mysteries.
g Aftermath To create interstellar messages that have a realistic chance of being understood across interstellar distances, we need to identify some information shared by humans and extraterrestrials. We need to identify a foundation for establishing a universal language that will let us bridge the gap between our world and theirs, all without the convenience of face-to-face contact. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.

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Bipolar year, X-15 astronauts and ‘Cosmic Company’

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 - With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the most comprehensive structural analysis of our galaxy and have found tantalizing new evidence that the Milky Way is much different from your ordinary spiral galaxy. See article.
g Abodes - Pamela Conrad, an astrobiologist with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has traveled to the ends of the Earth to study life. On June 16, Conrad gave a lecture entitled, "A Bipolar Year: What We Can Learn About Looking for Life on Other Planets by Working in Cold Deserts." In part 1 of this edited transcript, Conrad describes what sort of signs we could look for to see if there is life in an alien environment. See article.
g Life - It's an amazing, electrifying, even terrifying feeling: Stare into a starry night sky and ask yourself if someone, or something, might be staring back. Just the thought is enough to make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. But even now, after centuries of wondering, and decades of actively looking, humans still don’t know the answer. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Intelligence - Researchers at Stanford University have demonstrated a promising, minimally invasive optical technique that can capture micron-scale images from deep in the brains of live subjects. See article.
g Message - Recent discussions within the SETI community have thoroughly explored the issue of whether people with access to radio telescopes should send powerful signals to alien civilizations without some process of prior international consultation. In particular, those exchanges have focused on the question of "Active SETI." See article.
g Cosmicus - In a turbulent era of 1960s Cold War confrontations, moon race headlines, and war in southeast Asia, eight military and civilian test pilots flew the radical X-15 rocket plane out of the atmosphere and into the record books, earning astronaut status. See article.
g Learning -The company that contracts to run the sprawling Kennedy Space Center visitor complex will soon give tourists an opportunity to experience a shuttle launch for themselves. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for the late Poul Anderson’s “The Byworlder” (1971), which examines metazoans, linked cilia and radial lifeforms.
g Aftermath Book alert: In “Cosmic Company,” Seth Shostak and Alex Barnett ponder the possibility of aliens visiting the Earth, as well as the consequences of receiving a signal from the cosmos proving we're neither alone, nor the most intelligent life forms. They explain why scientists think life might exist on other worlds, and how we might contact it. Shostak and Barnett, experienced writers of popular astronomy, provide an accessible overview of the science and technology behind the search for life in the universe. See reviews.

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Smallest genome, clashing sea anemones and trash bags pave way to Mars

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 - A star that has begun eclipsing every 48 days shows the remarkable time scales of stellar evolution. The eclipsing star may be “winking,” according to Harvard-Smithsonian astronomers, because of a protoplanetary disk that beckons a solar system coming of age. Such changes may give scientists a first-row seat to witness what usually eludes a lifetime of study: planets as they form. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Abodes - We are alive because untold trillions of microbes have lived. How the world's microbes - the planet's richest trove of life - survive and shape our world is the key to understanding the origins of life on Earth, scientists from the University of Colorado and elsewhere say. The $720 million Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that launched Friday is NASA's latest bet that the same holds true elsewhere. See article.
g Life - Researchers at Oregon State University and Diversa Corporation have discovered that the smallest free-living cell known also has the smallest genome, or genetic structure, of any independent cell - and yet it dominates life in the oceans, thrives where most other cells would die, and plays a huge role in the cycling of carbon on Earth. In nature, apparently, bigger is not always better. See article.
g Intelligence - Clashing colonies of sea anemones fight as organized armies with distinct castes of warriors, scouts, reproductives and other types, according to a new study. See article.
g Message - In 2004, SETI scientist Jill Tarter was selected by the editors of TIME magazine as one of the world’s 100 most “influential and powerful people.” This selection was based on her prominent role in the search for evidence of life beyond earth, as well as her efforts promoting scientific literacy. See article.
g Cosmicus - We all use plastic trash bags; they're so common that we hardly give them a second thought. So who would have guessed that a lowly trash bag might hold the key to sending humans to Mars? See article.
g Learning - Red Nova offers a great glossary of astrobiology terms. See glossary.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien anthropology/cultures? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for C.J. Cherryh’s series “The Foreigner Universe,” which includes “Foreigner” (1994), “Invader” (1995) and “Inheritor” (1996). The series traces our dealings with the proud Atevi from first contact, as the single ambassador they will allow on planet tries to prevent war.
g Aftermath - How might interested parties envisage the design of a human team to prepare for an encounter with aliens — and improve the operational guidelines for that eventuality? See article.

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Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, phoning home intergalactically and ‘Ringworld’

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 - A University of Toronto scientist has found unexpectedly young material in meteorites — a discovery that breaks open current theory on the earliest events of the solar system. See article.
g Abodes - The much-anticipated Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission has launched astrobiologists on their next phase of their exploration of the Red Planet. See article.
g Life - Scientists have yearned to understand how the chirps and warbles of a young bird morph into the recognizable and very distinct melodies of its parents. Neuroscientists at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT now have come one step closer to understanding that process. They've shown for the first time how a particular brain region in birds serves as the source of vocal creativity. See article.
g Intelligence - A few simple but important steps that have led to the manufacture of radio telescopes. In human evolution, the development of facilities and fire was critical in the establishment of a metal technology. Adequate resources derived from agriculture were essential for the development of advanced technology. At all stages, the ratio of cost to reward had to be small and the technological development had to follow an appropriate cultural preadaptation. Play would unquestionably have been important in technological innovation. The history of toys has yet to be written, but it may be a key to an understanding of the progressive development of human technology. See article.
g Message - Phoning home intergalactically may have one natural prerequisite if a civilization is hoping to connect: timing their precursor signal or 'ring' so that we might know that they're broadcasting. Dr. Robin Corbet, of the Universities' Space Research Association discusses his research findings on Synchronized SETI. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Cosmicus - Who can resist the poetry of Humanity’s Timeless Outward Urge? Space is the endless frontier, we say—it’s in our genes. It’s the next inevitable step in evolution. It’s our species-level insurance against global disasters. It’s the spread of life and intelligence from a pale blue dot to the 99.9… percent of the cosmos that isn’t Earth. Throw the bone, cue the music, match dissolve to orbit: Thank you, Mr. Kubrick. See article.
g Learning - At a time when industrial, academic, and business leaders are calling for more American students to train in engineering, mathematics, science and technology, we need to teach science in science classrooms. Let’s teach the scientific ideas that are supported by overwhelming evidence such as gravitation, relativity, quantum mechanics, and evolution. Creationist ideas/beliefs, such as intelligent design, don’t belong in science classrooms. In our haste to leave no child behind, let’s not leave science behind either. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Larry Niven’s “Ringworld” (1970) and the sequel, “Ringworld Engineers” (1980).
g Aftermath A wide variety of steps should be taken to help the social sciences increase their visibility, status and contribution within the SETI field. The impact of social scientists will be profound if they contribute fresh ideas about the nature of ETI and how to detect it, bold insights into the variety of human reactions if the search succeeds, and far- sighted scenarios of humanity’s eventual relations with extraterrestrial intelligence. The quality of their thought, the ingenuity of their research designs and the depth of their findings will, in the long run, be particularly significant factors in their contribution to the SETI field. See article.

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Star hot spots, New Mexico spaceport and women as aliens in science fiction

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 - Thanks to data from ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft, European astronomers for the first time have observed rotating “hot spots” on the surfaces of three nearby neutron stars. See article.
g Abodes - A number of hypotheses have been used to explain how free oxygen first accumulated in Earth's atmosphere some 2.4 billion years ago, but a full understanding has proven elusive. Now a new model offers plausible scenarios for how oxygen came to dominate the atmosphere, and why it took at least 300 million years after bacterial photosynthesis started producing oxygen in large quantities. See article.
g Life - Our world may hold clues to the existence of life on other planets, writes astrobiologist Paul Davies. See article.
g Intelligence - Empathy allows us to feel the emotions of others, to identify and understand their feelings and motives and see things from their perspective. How we generate empathy remains a subject of intense debate in cognitive science. Some scientists now believe they may have finally discovered its root. We're all essentially mind readers, they say. See article.
g Message - Here’s a quick, easy to understand primer to SETI’s radio searches and the Fermi Paradox.
g Cosmicus - The first official meeting of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority met in Las Cruces last week to begin work establishing the Southwest Regional Spaceport in New Mexico as a major departure site for commercial space launches, including proposed passenger-carrying rockets offering suborbital and orbital treks. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat set of classroom activities, courtesy of the Discovery channel: “Destination Mars.” In these activities, students learn: that while Mars is just a stone’s throw across the solar system, a manned mission there is still just a dream; for such a mission to become a reality, we would need, among other things, a means of transportation that would allow us to move over the surface of the planet; and both the surface and the surrounding space of the planet Mars have characteristics that challenge existing technologies to create such a means of transportation. See activities.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Robin Roberts’ “A new species: gender and science in science fiction” (1993) an analysis of women as aliens in SF.
g Aftermath The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence is accelerating its pace and adopting fresh strategies. This increases the likelihood of successful detection in the near future. Humanity's first contact with alien intelligence will trigger extraordinary attention from the media, from government authorities, and from the general public. By improving our readiness for contact, especially for security during the first 30 days, we can avoid the most negative scenarios — and also enhance humanity's benefits from this first contact with an alien intelligence. Six potential problem areas include communicating with the media and the public, communicating with scientific colleagues, government control, an assassin or saboteur, well-meaning officials and lawsuits. See article.


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Solar nebula’s lifetime, extreme lifeforms and social dynamics of friendly aliens

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 - The oxygen and magnesium content of some of the oldest objects in the universe are giving clues to the lifetime of the solar nebula, the mass of dust and gas that eventually led to the formation of our solar system. See article.
g Abodes - While volcanologists can see the dome of the Soufriere Hills Volcano on the island of Montserrat grow and collapse, it takes instrumentation to delve beneath the surface. Now, Penn State geologists, using tiltmeter measurements, have investigated a shallow area under the dome and what they found was not quite what they expected. See article.
g Life - The relentless heat cooks the Badwater region of California's Death Valley so thoroughly that some expanses are textured like dry serpent skin. At some 284 feet below sea level-North America's lowest point-it is perhaps the hottest place on the surface of the earth: the temperature once peaked at a record 53.01 degrees Celsius (127. 4 degrees Fahrenheit). Out here, blood-pumping mammals are scarce. It may seem unfitting to find a Nobel Prize winner, renowned for hepatitis B work, in this scorching pit. But Baruch Blumberg's latest challenge takes him beyond human subjects. As the first director of NASA's Astrobiology Institute, he is searching for extreme lifeforms, the kind the space agency aims to someday find on other worlds. See article. Note: This article is from 2000.
g Intelligence - It takes a lot more than testosterone to make a father out of a man. See article.
g Message - Non-professional involvement in SETI science, which is encouraged by the nonprofit SETI League, Inc., increases the opportunity for the perpetration of hoaxes. The SETI League has already been peripherally involved in three separate false claims of ETI contact. Two were simple cases of mistaken identity, easily rectified. But the third was an elaborate hoax perpetrated by an Internet hacker who broke into a closed signal verification e-mail list. Such claims call for a prompt but measured response, so as not to subject the SETI community to charges of complicity in conspiracy or cover-up activities. In this presentation SETI League Executive Director H. Paul Shuch explores the dilemma of encouraging grass-roots participation, while avoiding association with fraudulent and pseudo-scientific claims. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.
g Cosmicus - Humankind's aspiration for exploring the infinite world of space has led to a new breed of larger telescope, currently under construction right on a college campus. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity, courtesy of NASA: “How Much Do You Weigh on Distant Planets?” In this activity, students study the effects of gravity on the planets of the solar system. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: John Huntington’s "Discriminating Among Friends: The Social Dynamics of the Friendly Aliens," in “Aliens: The Anthropology of Science Fiction," George E. Slusser, ed., 1987). It includes a discussion of Weinbaum's classic short story "Martian Odyssey."
g Aftermath Humans live and die by approximations. We are seldom as perfect or as accurate as we would like to be. And as we contemplate what we might say to an advanced extraterrestrial civilization, maybe that's a point we should emphasize. See article.

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Early universe, ancient ozone holes and the Torino Scale

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 - Designing and constructing a telescope that can capture faint particles of light from the early periods of the universe has its share of obstacles. One challenge was to design lightweight mirrors durable enough to withstand extreme cold. See article.
g Abodes - British researchers have hit on a clever way to search for ancient ozone holes and their relationship to mass extinctions: measure the remains of ultraviolet-B absorbing pigments ancient plants left in their fossilized spores and pollen. Since the 1960s, spores from living land plants have shown a three-fold increase in the concentration of UV-B absorbing pigments to protect themselves against a 14 percent decrease in stratospheric ozone. See article.
g Life - A recent finding by biologists at the Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution added important evidence to the radical conclusion that a group of diminutive aquatic animals called bdelloid rotifers have evolved for tens of millions of years without sexual reproduction, in apparent violation of the rule that abandonment of sexual reproduction is a biological dead end. Now, MBL scientists are beginning to understand just what's different about these creatures' DNA that has enabled them to succeed where other asexual species have failed. See article.
g Intelligence - Like stories about communicating with aliens? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Sheri Tepper’s “Long Silence” (1987), about gigantic crystals that converse through music.
g Message - The privatization of SETI has resulted in global participation in signal detection and analysis activities by a wide range of non-professionals. The SETI community welcomes this grass-roots support, every bit as much as the optical observing community honors the significant scientific contributions of the world's amateur astronomers. However, as SETI observatories spring up on college campuses and in home gardens worldwide, a need emerges for establishing rigorous signal verification protocols and stringent standards of proof. See article. Note: This article from 1999.
g Cosmicus - Research published in the journal Space Weather warns that massive gaps in our understanding and monitoring of space weather will effectively block U.S. plans for a manned mars space mission. The study, led by a University of Warwick researcher, draws on work that she and colleagues carried out for the European Space Agency on radiation hazards and space weather. See article.
g Learning - There are some great teacher resources on space biology here. The modules cover such topics as “Life in the Universe,” “Radiation Biology” and “Life in Space Environments.” Each module includes an introduction, readings and references, teaching resources and research and applications.
g Imagining - During the past several years, evolutionary biologists have proved that the disparate creatures of our planet are, at a fundamental genetic level, very similar to one another. The genes that differentiate the top and the bottom of a bug, for instance, are the same ones that differentiate our fronts from our backs. According to the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, this new understanding is among "the most stunning evolutionary discoveries of the decade," and is clearly "a dominant theme in evolution." The same law applies, it appears, to the extraterrestrial creatures that come out of Hollywood. See article. Note: This article is from 1997.
g Aftermath How might we characterize the political significance of any announcement of discovering extraterrestrial intelligence? How about using the Torino Scale, which characterizes asteroid impacts, as a model to assist the discussion and interpretation of any claimed discovery of ETI? See article.

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An Earth-like Venus, moondust and galactic space corps

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 - The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted of a collection of galaxies with more variety than a candy store. See article.
g Abodes - The hellish climate of Venus may have arisen far more recently than previously supposed, suggests new research. If so, pleasant Earth-like conditions probably persisted for 2 billion years after the planet's birth - plenty of time for life to have developed. See article.
g Life - Questions about the existence of life in outer space may have a surprisingly close-to-home answer, according to one University of Houston professor. Understanding how life evolved on Earth is important in obtaining clues as to where else in the universe one might find life and what it might be like, said George E. Fox, a UH professor of biology and biochemistry. Fox is finishing work on a three-year research grant from NASA's Exobiology Program that seeks to understand life's origin. See article.
g Intelligence - A person's prior knowledge of the geometry of faces affects his or her ability to estimate distance and complete visually guided reaching tasks according to a study published in the June issue of Journal of Vision, an online, free access publication of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. See article.
g Message - "Where are they?" Physicist Enrico Fermi famously posed this question when asked about intelligent extraterrestrials. If such beings exist, why have we (presumably) not been contacted or visited? Fermi's Paradox, as it is now known, is more profound than it may appear. Calculations suggest that if our galaxy has even one extraterrestrial civilization with the interest and ability to colonize new star systems, such a civilization could spread far and wide in a period far shorter than the age of the galaxy. See article.
g Cosmicus - The new book "Moondust: In Search of the Men Who Fell to Earth" shows how the Apollo program changed the lives of the astronauts who walked on the Moon. This leap to another world also colored our perception of what it means to be stuck on Earth. See article.
g Learning -Do you have what it takes to keep a trio of astronauts healthy? Play Space Doctor and see if you can make it to Mars alive. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien anthropology/cultures? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Rebecca Ore’s “Becoming Alien” (1988) and “Being Alien” (1989), which chronicle the adventures of the first Earth cadet in the galactic space corps.
g Aftermath While formal principles have been adopted for the eventuality of detecting intelligent life in our galaxy, no such guidelines exist for the discovery of non-intelligent extraterrestrial life within the solar system. Current scientifically based planetary protection policies for solar system exploration address how to undertake exploration, but do not provide clear guidance on what to do if and when life is detected. Considering that Martian life could be detected under several different robotic and human exploration scenarios in the coming decades, it is appropriate to anticipate how detection of non-intelligent, microbial life could impact future exploration missions and activities, especially on Mars. See article.

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Life’s origin, NASA’s new road map and ‘Metamorphoses of the Dragon’

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 - When a binary star system starts to transfer mass, one of the twins may well win out, leaving its companion to occupy a strange region half way between a star and a planet. A new star-type of this sort has been found, which resembles the infrared ash of a stillborn star. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Abodes - A number of hypotheses have been used to explain how free oxygen first accumulated in Earth's atmosphere some 2.4 billion years ago, but a full understanding has proven elusive. Now a new model offers plausible scenarios for how oxygen came to dominate the atmosphere, and why it took at least 300 million years after bacterial photosynthesis started producing oxygen in large quantities. See article.
g Life - Questions about the existence of life in outer space may have a surprisingly close-to-home answer, according to one University of Houston professor. Understanding how life evolved on Earth is important in obtaining clues as to where else in the universe one might find life and what it might be like, said George E. Fox, a UH professor of biology and biochemistry. Fox is finishing work on a three-year research grant from NASA's Exobiology Program that seeks to understand life's origin. See article.
g Intelligence - Alongside language, the ability of inventing and making new tools is considered one of the most distinctive features of Homo. No other living animals have these abilities, and probably the extinct hominids had them in a primitive, initial stage, setting the difference with other non-human primates. Therefore, the emergence of a technology to manufacture stone tools during the evolution of hominids represents a radical social and behavioral departure from apes, and is the first documented evidence for a cultural tradition with value for survival, i.e., based upon learning. See article.
g Message - A “portrait of humanity” recently was taken by Simon Bell, a photographer from Toronto. It is half of a stereo pair, two images that when properly focused together, reveal the scene’s third dimension. The photograph was envisioned as part of a message for the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moon Titan, launched in late 1997. It would have been an artifact in the tradition of the Voyager Record and the “Visions of Mars” CD ROM. Unlike the Voyager Record it was not intended to leave the solar system to be found by the crew of an advanced starship. Unlike Visions it was not for humans in the next few centuries. Its fate would have been to remain on the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan, waiting for eons of time against the slim chance that life might someday appear on that strange world, or that some other space traveler might visit Titan and find it. The image, inscribed on a diamond wafer about the size of a coin, was intended to show an intelligent alien on Titan viewer a little about our bodies, about our relationships with each other, and about our planet. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's new road map for the human exploration of space would land four astronauts on the moon by 2018 as the first step toward an eventual six-person voyage to Mars. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site: Solar System Live. It allows you to observe the locations of planets at various (modern) dates. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: George E. Slusser’s "Metamorphoses of the Dragon," in “Aliens: The Anthropology of Science Fiction," (Slusser and Eric S. Rabkin, eds., 1987). It critiques LeGuin's ideas about dragons as fantasy creatures, then goes on to discuss dragon-like aliens in SF in Clarke's “Childhood's End” and Herbert's “Dune” and “Dragon in the Sea” series, bringing in contexts as wide-ranging as Beowulf, the work of Escher, subatomic physics and Sagan's “Dragons of Eden.”

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Microcompartments, paradox of intelligence and ‘The Alien Way’

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 - The European Space Agency’s Markus Landgraf and his colleagues have found the first direct evidence that a bright disc of dust surrounds our Solar System, starting beyond the orbit of Saturn. Remarkably, their discovery gives astronomers a way to determine which other stars in the galaxy are most likely to harbor planets and allows mission planners to draw up a "short-list" of stars to be observed by future planet-search missions, such as Eddington and Darwin. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Abodes - Interplanetary geologists are busy this week analyzing the first sets of data from an Italian subsurface sounding radar currently orbiting Mars, as a crucial counterpart sits on a Florida launch pad ready to join the hunt for conjectured underground ice and water. See article.
g Life - UCLA biochemists reveal the first structural details of a family of mysterious objects called microcompartments that seem to be present in a variety of bacteria, and the first high resolution insights into how they function. The discovery blurs the distinction between eukaryotic cells and those of prokaryotes by showing that bacterial cells are more complex than imagined. See article.
g Intelligence - The appearance of intelligence in Earth entails a paradox: We only recognize it and appraise it directly because we are intelligent. Other forms of life, the environment, and now, even the sidereal space, are at the receiving end of our intelligence, our acts and doings, but they cannot understand it. See article.
g Message - Book alert: Scour your used bookstore shelves for “Life Beyond Earth,” by Timothy Ferris. Rock-solid science writer Ferris has covered this ground before. In the two-hour PBS documentary that he wrote and narrated - which shares the title, text, and many of the images of this generously illustrated book - Ferris tackles two age-old questions about the potentially universal nature of life: Are we alone, and, if not, is anybody listening? See article.
g Cosmicus - What are the possibilities of the human exploration and colonization of space, beginning with the moon and Mars? Here’s a highly speculative piece that raises such questions as "Would it ever be possible?" "Would it be desirable?" "What parallels are there between such an effort and the Polynesian exploration and colonization of the Pacific?" "Would it be more desirable for global human society to make an effort to develop a sustainable culture within the limits of the resources of earth, rather than continue to expand?" This provocative article is the starting point for debate about the future of humanity. See article. Note: The article does get the wrong date for Sputnik’s launch (it was 1957).
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity: “Gravity Hurts.” In this activity, students can sample some of the sensations of space right here on Earth, using the "weightless arms" isometric exercise and a good old-fashioned headstand. See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Gordon Dickson’s “The Alien Way” (1965). See review.
g Aftermath How to predict reactions to receipt of evidence for an otherworldly intelligence? Some scientists argue that any unpredictable outcomes can only be judged against our own history. See article.

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Freeze-dried microbes, Mars Foundation settlement and

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 - Like archaeologists unearthing a 'lost city', astronomers using the 8-meter Gemini South telescope have revealed that the galaxy NGC 300 has a large, faint extended disk made of ancient stars, enlarging the known diameter of the galaxy by a factor of two or more. See article.
g Abodes - New discoveries about the timing and speed of gigantic, 6,500-foot thick lava flows that poured out of the ground 65 million years ago could shift the blame for killing the dinosaurs. The Deccan Traps of India are one of Earth's largest lava flows ever, with the potential of having wreaked havoc with the climate of the Earth - if they erupted and released climate-changing gases quickly enough. French and Indian geologists have now identified a 2,000-foot thick portion of the lava that may have piled up in as little as 30,000 years - fast enough to have possibly caused a deadly global climate shift. See article.
g Life - Microbes freeze-dried in Antarctica for two decades sprang to life when scientists added water, revealing yet another extreme ecosystem that shows life's incredible resiliency. See article.
g Intelligence - Putative extraterrestrial planets are being discovered at the rate of one a month. A subset of these exist in the liquid water zone and are thus capable of evolving life similar to that with which we are familiar. While perhaps not common, the development of technological civilizations seems possible for some of these worlds. If we are typical, the evolution of technological civilizations proceeds from a condition where physical laws are unknown to a state where the limits imposed by those laws are reached within a few hundred years. These limits (molecular nanotechnology on solar system scales) allow the construction of Dyson shell supercomputers ("Matrioshka Brains''1) with thought capacities a trillion trillion times greater than that of a human brain and longevities measured in billions to trillions of years. Natural selection at stellar and galactic scales would, over time, eliminate any civilizations lacking these prodigious capabilities. We must consider that astronomical observations such as the missing baryonic dark matter and the gravitational microlensing observations may indicate that many such entities exist and that our galaxy is currently a Kardashev Type III civilization. See article.
g Message - In 2001, California astronomers broadened the search for extraterrestrial intelligence with a new experiment to look for powerful light pulses beamed our way from other star systems. Scientists from the University of California's Lick Observatory, the SETI Institute, UC-Santa Cruz, and UC-Berkeley used the Lick Observatory's 40-inch Nickel Telescope with a new pulse-detection system capable of finding laser beacons from civilizations many light-years distant. Unlike other optical SETI searches, this new experiment is largely immune to false alarms that slow the reconnaissance of target stars. See article.
g Cosmicus - The Mars Foundation presented plans for a permanent settlement they believe can be built using near-term technologies and resources already available on Mars. See article.
g Learning - A new section of the Journal of Geophysical Research will focus on biogeosciences of the Earth system in the past, present and future and its applicability to planetary studies. See article.
g Imagining - The man behind the Sims and SimCity is about to unleash his latest creation, a game wildly anticipated by the $10 billion gaming industry. Not set for release until next fall, the project has already begun to garner buzz. Called "Spore," it gives "the game of life" new meaning. In short, players begin as a single cell, then evolve, build a civilization and ultimately blast off into space to colonize (or wreak havoc or destroy) other planets. Players have control over the creature from its first breath, advancing the species by adding legs, wings, horns and other body parts. See article.
g Aftermath If and when life is discovered beyond Earth, non-scientific dimensions may strongly influence decisions about the nature andscope of future missions and activities. It is appropriate to encourage international discussion and consideration of the issues prior to an event of such historical significance. See article.

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Free oxygen, developing plans for Mars and the Singularity

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 - Scientists have found that a star that exploded in 1979 is as bright today in X-ray light as it was when it was discovered years ago, a surprise finding because such objects usually fade significantly after only a few months. See article.
g Abodes - A number of hypotheses have been used to explain how free oxygen first accumulated in Earth's atmosphere some 2.4 billion years ago, but a full understanding has proven elusive. Now a new model offers plausible scenarios for how oxygen came to dominate the atmosphere, and why it took at least 300 million years after bacterial photosynthesis started producing oxygen in large quantities. See article.
g Life - On Mars, plants would have to tolerate conditions that usually cause them a great deal of stress - severe cold, drought, low air pressure, soils that they didn't evolve for. But a plant physiologist and a microbiologist believe they can develop plants that can live in these conditions. See article.
g Intelligence - Perhaps the reason we haven’t contacted any extraterrestrial civilizations as of yet is because within a few hundred years, industrial civilizations reach a phase known in science fiction circles as the “Singularity.” See article.
g Message - Could intelligent beings in another solar system have hidden their sun by knocking their planets apart and using the pieces to build a hollow ball around their sun? For more on “Dyson Spheres,” see article.
g Cosmicus -The U.S. Department of Defense has signed off on NASA’s plan to use major space shuttle components as the basis for separate vehicles that will launch the agency’s new crew transport and 100-ton loads of Moon-bound cargo. See article.
g Learning - Americans love science in their movies and TV shows, yet recent reports indicate we are losing our scientific dominance to the rest of the world. Can science-themed entertainment get Americans off the couch and into the lab? See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Piers Anthony’s “Omnivore” (1968), which examines fungal life forms.
g Aftermath Before it was published, Richard Zare suspected that the paper proposing that a meteorite from Mars once hosted alien life would be a media sensation. It was. What Zare didn't expect was the course that the scientific debate has taken. He thought that the resulting discourse would be skeptical and opinionated, but also highly reasoned and dispassionate. But because of the high stakes ­ nothing less than the first discovery of alien life ­ and the intensity of the media spotlight, the scientific interchange has proven to be highly emotional and highly disruptive, he said. See article. Note: This article is from 1997.

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Mars at Yellowstone, bilateral symmetry and space tourism

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 - A new image from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer shows that a galaxy once thought to be rather plain and old is actually endowed with a gorgeous set of young spiral arms. The unusual galaxy, called NGC 4625, is a remarkable find because it is relatively nearby. Until now, astronomers had thought that this kind of youthful glow in galaxies was a thing of the past. See article.
g Abodes - Home of the spewing Old Faithful geyser, Yellowstone National Park may also be an analog for happenings even on far-flung worlds like Mars. See article.
g Life - Microscopic fossils found in China emerge as the oldest examples of animals that display bilateral symmetry - two halves that are mirror images of each other. The find by a USC paleontologist and his peers focused on critters that date back millions of years. See article.
g Intelligence - Book alert: The value of “Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind,” by Donald Johanson and Maitland Edey, hasn't diminished with the passage of time. It's compelling story of the growth of paleoanthropology in the 20th Century remains unmatched. Johanson's role should be known to most, but this personal relation endures as a landmark for those interested in the development of humanity. He's given us a lucid story of the life and work of the paleoanthropologist both in the field and laboratory. He is candid in assessing other workers and himself in tracing the line of descent from ape-like creatures to modern humans. See reviews.
g Message - Forget waiting for ET to call — the most likely place to find an alien message is in our DNA, according to an expert in Australia. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - The company responsible for brokering the first two space tourist missions to the International Space Station announced plans for a mission that will send space tourists to the far side of the moon at the cost of $100 million per person. See article.
g Learning - Harvard University is launching a broad initiative to discover how life began, joining an ambitious scientific assault on age-old questions that are central to the debate over the theory of evolution. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Hal Clement’s "The Creation of Imaginary Beings," in “Science Fiction: Today and Tomorrow” (Reginald Bretnor, ed., 1974). It’s a classic, hard SF account of how to conceptualize believable aliens.
g Aftermath If we establish communication with a civilization even as close as 100 light years from Earth, the round-trip time for a message and its reply is 200 years. What will be the psychology of a civilization that can engage in a meaningful conversation with this sort of delay? How is such a conversation to be established? What should the content of such a conversation be? These are the questions which motivate our title: "Minds and Millennia: The Psychology of Interstellar Communication." See article.

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Exotic biology on Venus, SETI at Home and conversation by changing colors

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 - A University of Michigan-led research team has discovered that for the first time in history, scientists will be able to observe how the Earth's gravity will disrupt a massive asteroid's spin. See article.
g Abodes - Thick Venusian clouds mask a dense greenhouse atmosphere that is inhospitably hot. But 30 miles up from the surface, conditions suggest a more temperate zone. Some scientists wonder what strange equilibrium sustains a reactive gas mixture that shouldn't co-exist there: exotic biology or not? See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Life - Scientists trying to figure out the origin of life on Earth are getting nearer to their goal, but they concede that they may never solve this profound mystery. See article.
g Intelligence - Intelligence - A rose by any other name may smell just as sweet, but tilt it at an unexpected angle and it may still be easy to smell, just not recognize. That is, unless you saw another object — even an unrelated one — presented at the same angle. See article.
g Message - Want to help SETI discover alien life? If you haven’t already done so, download the free SETI at Home software. Using Internet-connected computers, the program downloads and analyzes radio telescope data on your desktop when it is idle. The program has been so successful in plowing through data that other scientific researchers, especially in medicine, are adopting it to their fields. Click here for the program.
g Cosmicus - As stunning Martian panoramas captivate the world's attention, some interplanetary scientists are also glancing back over time to other surface landers on exotic horizons. Visiting Venus up-close however is not something to do without a camera and flame-retardant gear handy. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Learning - Set your VCR to record “CNN Presents Classroom Edition: Is Anybody Out There?” when it airs commercial-free on August 22, from 4-5 a.m. on CNN. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about communicating with aliens? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Michael Bishop’s “Transfigurations” (1979), in which ET converses by changing colors.
g Aftermath - Here’s an intriguing essay that discusses what might happen if we do too little to contact extraterrestrials; as the authors argue, “…skepticism regarding SETI is at best unfounded and at worst can seriously damage the long-term prospects of humanity. If ETIs exist, no matter whether friendly or adversarial (or even beyond such simple distinctions), they are relevant for our future. To neglect this is contraryy to the basic tenets of transhumanism. To appreciate this, it is only sufficient to imagine the consequences of SETI success for any aspect of transhumanist interests, and then to affirm that such a success can only be achieved without trying if they come to us, which would obviously mean that we are hopelessly lagging in the race for galactic colonization.” See article.

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Meteor impacts, SETA and feline aliens

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 - One of the thousands of asteroids orbiting the sun has been found to have a mini planetary system of its own. See article.
g Abodes - Meteor impacts are generally regarded as monstrous killers and one of the causes of mass extinctions throughout the history of life. But there is a chance the heavy bombardment of Earth by meteors during the planet's youth actually spurred early life on our planet, say Canadian geologists. See article.
g Life - The theory of panspermia proposes that life really gets around, jumping from planet to planet - or even from star to star. Life might be everywhere! Assuming this is true, how do single-celled bacteria make the journey through the vacuum of space? Easy, they use chunks of rock as space ships, in a process called lithopanspermia. And now, researchers from Princeton and the University of Michigan think that life carrying rocks might have been right there at the beginning of our solar system, keeping their tiny astronauts safe and sound, frozen in statis until the planets formed and the right conditions let them thaw out, stretch their proteins, and begin a process leading from microbe to mankind. See article.
g Intelligence - When people see violent or erotic images, they fail to process whatever they see next, according to new research. See article.
g Message - The Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts, or SETA, is about delineating between the artificial and the real. In the case of radio detection from other stellar systems, the artificial is what is labeled the real signal that intelligent communications are on-air. See article. Note: This article is a couple of years old.
g Cosmicus - Proponents of small satellites say that tiny spacecraft have potentially big roles to play in planetary exploration. See article.
g Learning - Exobiology is the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe. Exobiologists investigate how the formation of stars and solar systems led to the existence of planets suitable for life, how life originated on Earth and perhaps elsewhere, and which factors influenced biological evolution. The understanding of these events shapes the study of how life arises and evolves in the universe. Here’s a basic primer on what also is known as astrobiology. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien anthropology/cultures? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Mary Gentle’s “Golden Witchbreed” (1983) and “Ancient Light” (1987), which examines a culture of feline aliens.
g Aftermath - Looking for some interesting reading on “first contact”? Try the science fiction anthology “First Contact,” edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff. The book came out in 1997. Here’s a review (though it’s less than flattering).

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Where life originated, ‘Life Beyond Earth’ and ‘Way Station’

Welcome! First-time visitors may want to read the Jan. 1 entry to gain a better understanding of the blog's format.
g Stars - From chemical fingerprints preserved in primitive meteorites, scientists at UCSD have determined that the collapsing gas cloud that eventually became our sun was glowing brightly during the formation of the first material in the solar system more than 4.5 billion years ago. See article.
g Abodes - The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth reached a significant goal earlier this month when scientists drilled into a seismically active section of the fault approximately two miles below the surface of the Earth. See article.
g Life - There are many different theories about where the origin of life occurred. These theories range from life beginning in deep-sea thermal vents to bacterial life arriving from other places in the universe, among others. Some of these theories are more credible than others, yet all provide an interesting explanation for life's beginnings. See article.
g Intelligence - Tell a man that he's not "man enough" and he may exhibit extremely macho behavior to compensate, new study findings suggest. See article.
g Message - Book alert: Scour your used bookstore shelves for “Life Beyond Earth,” by Timothy Ferris. Rock-solid science writer Ferris has covered this ground before. In the two-hour PBS documentary that he wrote and narrated - which shares the title, text, and many of the images of this generously illustrated book - Ferris tackles two age-old questions about the potentially universal nature of life: Are we alone, and, if not, is anybody listening? See reviews.
g Cosmicus - It remains a resolute axiom of the space business: “Failure is not an option.” However, there are a host of terrible tales of misfiring rockets, lost-to-space satellites and interplanetary probes gone awry. See article.
g Learning - A new section of the Journal of Geophysical Research will focus on biogeosciences of the Earth system in the past, present and future and its applicability to planetary studies. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien biologies/environments? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Clifford Simak’s ”Way Station” (1963), which examines many different kinds of potential aliens.
g Aftermath - Should we really expect extraterrestrials to be sympathetic to our pleas to be altruistic because of the symbolic kinship we might share with them? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

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Robotic astrobiologist, ‘Aliens and Knowability’ and what to say to ET

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 - With the help of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have conducted the most comprehensive structural analysis of our galaxy and have found tantalizing new evidence that the Milky Way is much different from your ordinary spiral galaxy. See article.
g Abodes - Carnegie Mellon researchers and their colleagues from NASA's Ames Research Center, the universities of Tennessee, Arizona and Iowa, as well as Chilean researchers at Universidad Catolica del Norte (Antofagasta) are preparing for the final stage of a three-year project to develop a prototype robotic astrobiologist, a robot that can explore and study life in the driest desert on Earth. The mission runs from Aug. 22 to Oct. 22. See article.
g Life - By the 1950s, scientists were in hot pursuit of the origin of life. Around the world, the scientific community was examining what kind of environment would be needed to allow life to begin. In 1953, Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey, working at the University of Chicago, conducted an experiment, which would change the approach of scientific investigation into the origin of life. See article.
g Intelligence - It's no secret that men and women tend to spend their time on the Internet quite differently. But British researchers suggest it's not just a Web site's subject or function that determines whether it will draw more men or women. The appearance of the site also might play a subtle role. See article.
g Message - By publicly promoting exobiology, Joshua Lederberg almost single-handedly gained a place for biologists in the burgeoning U.S. space program, as well as a share of its ample research funds. He pressed upon NASA the need to include biological science in its mission and research designs, and represented the interests of biologists on the agency's Lunar and Planetary Missions Board between 1960 and 1977. In this role he helped define the scientific objectives for the Mariner Mars missions, launched between 1964 and 1971 to map the planet's surface and study its atmosphere from close-in orbits. Here are his papers.
g Cosmicus - The (un)likelihood of extraterrestrial visitation is probably one of the most debated aspects of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, the answer being an essential component to the validity of the ETH. After all, the assumed unlikeliness of interstellar travel has become the cornerstone of those who resist the ETH as an explanation for UFOs. So, does extraterrestrial visitation necessarily require all sorts of "unlikely" science, or is it possible to accomplish interstellar travel using conventional wisdom? See article.
g Learning - Here’s a module that provides introductory teaching lessons for classroom coverage of astrobiology and the origin of life that is suitable for use in both general and advanced high school biology courses. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Gregory Benford’s "Aliens and Knowability: A Scientist's Perspective," in “Bridges to Science Fiction” (George E. Slusser, George R. Guffet and Mark Rose, eds., 1980).
g Aftermath - What should we say to an extraterrestrial? Try the World Wide Web. SETI astronomer Seth Shostak opines at article.

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Early Sun cooks up soup of life, space exploration debate and ‘Memoirs of a Spacewoman’

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 - Before the Sun was the Sun, it glowed brightly and began cooking up the soup of life, according to a new study. See article.
g Abodes - A researcher at Southwest Research Institute, working with scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center on data from the NASA Cassini Saturn orbiter, has found heat leaking out of the south polar region of Saturn's tiny icy moon, Enceladus. This find makes Enceladus only the third place in the solar system, after Earth and Jupiter's volcanic moon Io, where "hot spots" associated with ongoing geological activity have been detected. See article.
g Life - Many of them are tiny, all of them are tough, and they could be your most distant ancestors. See article.
g Intelligence - The figure is famous: a deceptively simple line drawing that at first glance resembles a vase and, at the next, a pair of human faces in profile. When you look at this figure, your brain must rapidly decide what the various lines denote. Are they the outlines of the vase or the borders of two faces? How does your brain decide? See article.
g Message - A new study suggests it is more energy efficient to communicate across interstellar space by sending physical material — a sort of message in a bottle — than beams of electromagnetic radiation. Solid matter can hold more information and journey farther than radio waves, which disperse as they travel. See article.
g Cosmicus - The big debate among those interested in outer space centers on a couple things: One, do we need humans in space when robots don't need air, water, or food; and secondly, the value of the multibillions of dollars we've spent on the International Space Station and the antique Space Shuttle. See article.
g Learning - After months of debate over science and religion, the Kansas Board of Education has tentatively approved new state science standards that weaken the role evolution plays in teaching about the origin of life. See article.
g Imagining - Like stories about communicating with aliens? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for Naomi Mitchinson’s “Memoirs of a Spacewoman” (1979) about a human’s attempts to contact various aliens through empathetic means (for example, radiates think with a five-based system of logic BET).

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