Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Lalande 21185 is the fourth system closest to Sol after Alpha Centauri 3, Barnard's Star and Wolf 359. Might it support habitable planets? See http://www.solstation.com/stars/la21185.htm.
g Abodes - Measuring the rotation period of a rocky planet like the Earth is easy, but similar measurements for planets made of gas, such as Saturn, pose problems. Researchers present new results in this week's Nature that may solve the mystery. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0605/03saturn/.
g Life - In early May, astrobiologists gathered in Sweden to sample smörgåsbord and to discuss planetary, space and life sciences. While there is already an astrobiology network for Europeans – the European Astrobiology Network Association – the shared culture and geography of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, and Denmark, and also the Baltic States and Russia, make a Nordic astrobiology community necessary as well. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop
=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1974&
mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - A new study of 8,000 people age 2 to 90 found females handle timed tasks more quickly than males. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060425_boys_girls.html.
g Message - Here’s a famous 1960 article from Freeman John Dyson: “Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation.” See http://www.islandone.org/LEOBiblio/SETI1.HTM.
g Cosmicus - NASA has teamed up with two universities to study ways to reduce the adverse effects of space travel has on astronauts' physical heath. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.ph
pop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1933mode=thread
&order=0&thold=0.
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 http://www.astrobio.net
/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid
=1032.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Isaac Asimov’s short story "Victory Unintentional," published in the Aug. 1942 edition of Super Science Stories.
g Aftermath - If we hear from ET, not only can we expect his civilization to be an old one with a great time lag in correspondence, a SETI astronomer says. Could this limit the impact of extraterrestrial contact upon humanity? See http://www.space.com
/searchforlife/seti_long_distance_011227.html. Note: This article is from December 2001.
The Drake Equation
This formula estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.N=(R*)(Ns)(Fp)(Ne)(Fl)(Fi)(Fc)(L)
Where:- N = Number of civilizations we can communicate with
- R* = Average star formation rate
- Ns = Percentage of stars capable of supporting earth-like planets
- Fp = Percentage of those stars with planets
- Ne = Average umber of planets in those stars' habitable zones
- Fl = Percentage of those planets where life begins
- Fi = Percentage of planets with life where an intelligent species evolves
- Fc = Percentage of those intelligent species that develop communication technology
- L = Average lifetime, in years, of a civilization that develops such technology
About Me
- Rob Bignell
- I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.