Alien Life: June 2006

Friday, June 30, 2006

Protoplanetary disk shapes, flipping life’s switch and Cassini at half-way mark

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Venus’ polar vortex, cradle of agriculture and faster than light travel

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Testing General Relativity, growing plants in microgravity and reacting to ET’s landing

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - A space telescope scheduled for launch in 2007 will be sensitive enough to detect theoretical miniature black holes lurking within our solar system, scientists say. By doing so, it could test an exotic five-dimensional theory of gravity that competes with Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. That is, of course, if the tiny black holes actually exist. See http://www.space.com/science
astronomy/060626_mystery_monday.html.
g Abodes - For the first time, glaciologists have combined and compared sets of ancient climate records trapped in ice cores from the South American Andes and the Asian Himalayas to paint a picture of how climate has changed – and is still changing – in the tropics. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060627093233.htm.
g Life - When you think of bright coral and colorful fish, you might conjure images of Hawaii or the Caribbean. If so, a newfound bed of deep-sea corals and other animal life found off the coast of Washington state will likely surprise you. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060626_coral_photos.html.
g Intelligence - In the first article to examine bargaining behavior from a consumer perspective, researchers from the University of Maryland found that buyers gauge the success of a round of bargaining not by the final price, but by a seemingly innocuous non-verbal cue: how long the seller pauses before responding to the offer. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060625122626.htm.
g Message - And after all those years, as the saying goes, UFOs remain a riddle inside a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Why so? For one, the field is fraught with hucksterism. It's also replete with blurry photos and awful video. But then there are also well-intentioned and puzzled witnesses.Scientifically speaking, are UFOs worth keeping an eye on? See http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/06/23/ufo.research/.
g Cosmicus - When shuttle Discovery next launches, it will carry the continuing research of botanist John Kiss to study if and how well plants can be grown in microgravity. Kiss' project is one of only two experiments launched on Discovery that will be performed on the International Space Station at this time. See http://www.astrobio.
net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=2004mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning -A 2006 report by the National Science Foundation revealed that only about one-third of U.S. students in the fourth and eighth grades and less than one-fifth of 12th graders were proficient in math and science tests administered by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Scores for underrepresented minorities were significantly lower. See http://dailyheadlines.uark.edu/8833.htm.
g Aftermath - How would humans react the day after ET landed? A nationwide survey by the Roper Organization in 1999 found that the following: “...one out of four Americans think most people would “totally freak out and panic” if such evidence were confirmed. See http://www.nidsci.org/news/roper/roperpressrelease.html.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Matter-antimatter imbalance, ice age sloth and helping SETI discover aliens

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - B factory experiments at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in the United States and at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization in Japan have reached a new milestone in the quest to understand the matter-antimatter imbalance in our universe. Scientists from around the world, including the United Kingdom, to probe such fundamental questions, use these experiments. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060624115839.htm.
g Abodes - New technologies are enabling scientists to determine precisely the extent and causes of Earth's short-term wobbling. Like a spinning top, Earth wobbles as it rotates on its axis. In fact, it displays many different wobbling motions, ranging in period from a few minutes to billions of years. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/26wobbles/.
g Life - For the past three years, students, staff and volunteers from the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History, UI Department of Geoscience in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Office of the State Archaeologist have been excavating, analyzing and carefully reconstructing the bones of an ice-age giant sloth from a site near Shenandoah, Iowa. Like detectives at a 12,000-year-old crime scene, the team has been attempting to piece together a life history of this extinct, furry, SUV-sized mammal. What did it eat? Why did it die? And why did sloths mysteriously become extinct along with over three-dozen other large ice age animals? See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060626123721.htm.
g Intelligence - In an exciting study that provides new understanding of how animals learn - and learn from each other - researchers have demonstrated that bats that use frog acoustic cues to find quality prey can rapidly learn these cues by observing other bats. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060627094205.htm.
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. See http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/ for the program.
g Cosmicus - As NASA sets its sights on returning to the Moon, the U.S. space agency wants to make sure the scientific research done there is no mere afterthought, but a well-conceived program developed in close consultation with the scientific community. See http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_060626.html.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity, courtesy of NASA: “The Drake Equation.” Students estimate the number of civilizations in the galaxy by first estimating the number of craters on the Moon and then by performing estimates of multiple-variable systems culminating in the use of the Drake Equation. See http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/html/DrakeEquation/Drake.htm.
g Imagining - An impressive listing of “Star Trek” aliens exists at http://cage.p.tripod.com/. Of course, most “Star Trek” aliens either are just humanoid (an unlikely scenario, though the series did explain it away by saying a previous humanoid race “seeded” worlds with their DNA) are incorporeal. Still, the series did offer some intriguing species — most notably the horta, tribble and Species 8472 — merit attention.
g Aftermath - The next social science to be created might be "exopsychology" — the study of behavior, attitudes, personalities and thoughts of alien beings. Although necessarily speculative, exopsychology might eventually be a critical link between humans and aliens. In the meantime, such a study could also provide the additional benefit of informing us about earthbound prejudices. See http://www.parentsurf.com/p/articles/mi_m1175/is_n2_v22/ai_63 06
697.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Huge cosmic paradox, Mars Science Laboratory and Big Questions of the Universe

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Our humdrum galaxy, Earth turning into Venus and ‘Worlds Without End’

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - For those among us who like to think we are something special, things have gone downhill since Ptolemy. First, Copernicus’ theories suggested that the Earth was not the center of the universe after all. Then it turned out that the sun was a run-of-the-mill star. Eventually even the Milky Way was shown to be relatively humdrum. Well, it just got more humdrum. See http://thechronicleherald.ca/Science/512179.html.
g Abodes - Renowned scientist Stephen Hawking told Chinese students that Earth could become like Venus. See http://www.livescience.
com/environment/ap_060622_hawking_climate.html.
g Life - Scientists have found 136-million-year-old piece of amber encasing pieces of web and trapped insects that helps fill in the gaps of the origin of orb webs. The finding also indicates predatory spiders likely played a role in the evolution of flying insects. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060622_spider_webs.html.
g Intelligence - Learning to communicate and adapting our behavior to the information we receive has been fundamental to human evolution. Researchers have attempted to build robots or devices with the communication skills of a human adult. However, that is a shortcut that ignores the evolution of language and the skills gained from social interaction, thereby limiting the ability of artificial intelligence devices to react to stimuli to within a fixed set of parameters. See http://www.scenta.co.uk/scenta/news.cfmcit_
id=892769&FAArea1=widgets.content_view_1.
g Message - Book alert: “Worlds Without End: the Historic Search for Extraterrestrial Life,” by R.A.S. Hennessey, offers the first complete history of Pluralism - from Plato to NATO. Is there life, intelligent or otherwise, on other worlds - or are we unique and alone in the Universe? This question, now assuming a leading role in science and contemporary culture, is of great antiquity. Its long history has embraced a vast range of interests - from the philosophers of classical Greece, medieval theologians and intellectuals of the Enlightenment down to today's cosmologists, UFO enthusiasts and fans of TV space-operas. Among the important contributors to this 2500-yearold debate are Plato, Aquinas, Newton, Kant, Tom Paine, H.G. Wells, Sir Fred Hoyle and Francis Crick. Worlds Without End is, however, the first full-length chronicle of the whole, long saga. As a result of this long perspective R.A.S. Hennessey is able to identify the major trends and developments in pluralist theories over the centuries. Surprisingly his study reveals that much of what is considered to be new turns out to be old and well-worn - showing how little is truly 'new under the Sun'. This well-illustrated and accessibly written work thus provides an invaluable background to one of the major debates of our time. It will be welcomed not only by those engaged in this debate - scientists, historians, theologians and science fiction readers - but anyone who has looked up at the night sky and wondered, as have others down the ages, "Is there anyone out there?" See http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/bgo/7791.shtml.
g Cosmicus - Northrop Grumman has delivered an important element of the James Webb Space Telescope, the Backplane Stability Test Article, to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center for a series of tests designed to verify its readiness for use in space. See http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/23/1693723.htm.
g Learning - Here is a very thorough list of astrobiology-related journals, magazines and newsletters: http://aca.mq.edu.au/Links/AstrobiologyJournalList.html.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Marc Bilgrey’s "Random Acts," in the anthology “First Contact,” edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Larry Segriff (published by DAW in 1997).

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Fizzing space, hot Earth and can aliens find us?

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Space is fizzing. Above our heads, where the Earth's magnetic field meets the constant stream of gas from the Sun, thousands of bubbles of superheated gas are constantly growing and popping. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/24cluster/.
g Abodes - The Earth is the hottest it has been in at least 400 years, probably even longer. The National Academy of Sciences, reaching that conclusion in a broad review of scientific work requested by Congress, reported Thursday that the "recent warmth is unprecedented for at least the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia.'' See http://www.livescience.com/environment/ap_060622_earth_hot.html.
g Life - Astrobiology Magazine’s managing editor, Henry Bortman, is hanging out with a group of astrobiologists in the driest place on Earth, Chile’s Atacama Desert. Yungay, an abandoned mining settlement in the Atacama, was until recently thought to be completely devoid of life. But new evidence hints at the possibility that even here, where rainfall is an event that occurs once a decade, microbial life can eke out an existence. See http://www.astrobio.
net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid
=2002mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - The neurological basis for poor witness statements and hallucinations has been found by scientists at the University College London. In over a fifth of cases, people wrongly remembered whether they actually witnessed an event or just imagined it, according to a paper published in NeuroImage this week. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060623215216.htm.
g Message - Can aliens find us? With a really nice pair of binoculars, the Great Wall of China (not to mention less romantic constructions, such as interstate highways) does become visible from orbit. Any curious aliens that made it to within a few hundred miles of Earth would have no trouble seeing the artifacts of our civilization. They would know, without doubt, that technologically competent beings roamed our world. But how visible are we to aliens that are farther away? See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_shostak_
aliens_031023.html. Here’s the follow-up to the article from 2003: http://
www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_shostak_seeing_031120.html.
g Cosmicus - The main camera on the Hubble Space Telescope, which has revolutionized astronomy with its stunning pictures of the universe, has stopped working, engineers said today. See http://
www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articleAID=/20060625/NEWS
06/606250407/1012.
g Imagining - Scientifically speaking, are UFOs worth keeping an eye on? Not exactly. See http://www.space.com/news/060622_alien_encounters.html.

Friday, June 23, 2006

Glowing neutron stars, good odds at million-to-one and brain filters

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Dense stellar corpses doomed to roam through space alone can get a second "lease on life" by passing through clouds of gas in stellar nurseries, a controversial new analysis proposes. The research suggests the corpses – called neutron stars – begin to glow at X-ray wavelengths when gas falls onto them. See http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn9397-mysterious-xray-sources-may-be-lone-neutron-stars.html.
g Abodes - The names Nix and Hydra have been approved for the two small satellites of Pluto discovered in May 2005. In mythology, Nix is the goddess of darkness and night, befitting a satellite orbiting distant Pluto, the god of the underworld. Hydra is the terrifying monster with the body of a serpent and nine heads, befitting the outermost moon of Pluto, the ninth planet in the solar system. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/22plutomoons/.
g Life - It may be a million-to-one shot that life exists elsewhere in the galaxy, but when you’re talking about astronomy, those may be good odds. See http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060623/BUSINESS/60622067/1122.
g Intelligence - The brain filters what we hear. It can do this in part because particular groups of neurons react to specific frequencies of sound. Neurobiologists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen have now created a "frequency map" for numerous areas of the brain. They used magnetic resonance imaging to identify which neuronal fields are activated by single frequencies and by mixtures of frequencies. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060623215911.htm.
g Message - The Planetary Society has posted an update on SETI@home's Stellar Countdown reobservations from March. At that time, the Berkeley University based SETI@home chose the best candidates (166) from the millions of data packets analyzed by users' home computers. They traveled to Arecibo, where they had unprecedented full use of the resources of the giant dish to reobserve the areas that had hatched the chosen signals. See http://space.about.com/b/a/009811.htm.
g Cosmicus - NASA's newest spacecraft at Mars has already cut the size and duration of each orbit by more than half, just 11 weeks into a 23-week process of shrinking its orbit. By other indicators, the lion's share of the job lies ahead. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/
modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2000
mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Aftermath - The discovery that alien life exists would mean that we are not the center of the universe. While most religions now recognize that the Earth is just a lump of rock, they still believe that we human beings are the most important thing in creation, that we occupy a special place in God's plan. The existence of aliens would seem to make this implausible especially if they are more advanced than we are (on all levels, intellectually, spiritually) This would mean that God has acted in the development of the aliens in a way he did not act in ours, which in turn would mean that we do not occupy the paramount role in God's creation, which as I said is a fundamental idea in religions. See http://www.philosophos.com/knowledge_base/
archives_10/philosophy_questions_1041.html.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Black hole light shows, recovering meteorites in Hammerfest and world’s first bling

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - A team of astronomers led by the University of Michigan may know how black holes are lighting up the Universe. New data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory show, for the first time, that powerful magnetic fields are the key to these brilliant and startling light shows. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/22blackholes/.
g Abodes - The city of Hammerfest lies at the northern tip of Norway, well above the Arctic Circle. If you board a ship heading north from there, just before you reach the polar ice cap you run into a group of islands known as the Svalbard archipelago. For the past two summers, a group of scientists has traveled to the largest of these islands to study an environment that sheds light on a notorious meteorite, discovered at the opposite end of the Earth, in Antarctica. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20168.
g Life - The Yungay region in Chile’s Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth. It rains perhaps once every 10 years. It is so dry that not even microbial life can survive there. Almost as dry as Mars. That makes it an interesting place for astrobiologists to study. Later this month, Astrobiology Magazine will begin a series of field reports from Yungay. Join us as we accompany scientists who are heading to Yungay to explore the limits of life. See http://www.astrobio.net
/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1999
mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - Ancient beads that may represent the oldest attempt by people at self-decoration have been identified from sites in Algeria and Israel. See http://www.livescience.com/history/060622_ancient_jewelry.html.
g Message - Many common ideas about SETI just aren’t true, but that doesn't prevent them from popping up in popular articles, blogs, books, and even movies. Here are three of my favorite fallacies about SETI. See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_three_myths_060622.html.
g Cosmicus - Geckos, snails and newts thrived on a Russian spacecraft that carried a Montana State University experiment last summer, but not bacteria, said an MSU microbiologist who is studying the long-term effects of space travel. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20167.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity: “Samples of the Future.” In this exercise, which reinforces creative thinking and the scientific method, kids build their own toy spacecraft from assorted household materials. See http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/15aug01/corner.html.
g Imagining - Traditional science fiction has aliens who speak some form of English or resemble humans. The problem is, chances are slim that non-terrestrial life will have such earthling-like traits. Chemists at the University of Florida hope to overcome that obstacle by figuring out what alien life might look like. See http://www.napa.ufl.edu/98news/astrobio.htm. Note: This article is from 1998.
g Aftermath - Some of the best discussion of the consequences of alien contact occurs in science fiction. Here’s a novel that ranks among the most important in that dialogue: Arthur C. Clark’s “Songs of a Distant Earth.” Look for it at your library or local used book store.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Gliese 876’s planets, Pluto’s status and the Phoenix Lander

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Within 20 light years of Sol, astronomers may have detected planets only in the Solar System and around three stars. One of them is Gliese 876 / Ross 780. See http://www.solstation.com/stars/gl876.htm.
g Abodes - At its conference this August, the International Astronomical Union will make a decision that could see Pluto lose its status as a planet. See http://www.physorg.com/news70120085.html.
g Life - The population of an endangered species of dolphin living in Pakistan's Indus River has increased in recent years, but the animal remains at high risk of extinction, the scientist leading a conservation project said. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wpdyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060700976.html.
g Intelligence - New findings reported this week reveal that at least some primates can use their stored knowledge of recent weather as a tool for guiding their foraging behavior when searching for ripening fruit. The work potentially informs our understanding of how cognitive skills developed in humans and other primates. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News
&file=article&sid=1998mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Message - If we are not alone in the universe, why have we never picked up signals from an extraterrestrial civilization? Known as the Fermi paradox after physicist Enrico Fermi, who first posed the question, this long-standing puzzle remains one of the strongest arguments against the existence of intelligent aliens. But two physicists say they have come up with a solution. They suggest a way in which aliens could send messages to each other across space that not only disguises their locations but also makes it impossible for a casual observer to even distinguish the messages from background noise. See http://www.spacedaily.com/news/seti-03c.html. Note: This article is from May 2003.
g Cosmicus - The Phoenix Lander will explore a polar site on Mars to uncover clues about the planet's history of water and potential for life. The computer "brain" of the spacecraft is now ready for action, and a team at the University of Arizona in Tucson has begun adding engineering models of science payload instruments to a mock lander that will be tested in the Payload Interoperability Testbed, or "PIT." See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload
&name=News&file=article&sid=1997mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Here’s a neat new set of afterschool activities for elementary school students: “Astrobiology.” This new resource guide from the American Museum of Natural History brings astrobiology activities to the afterschool arena. As part of an 18-month project, AMNH collected NASA materials originally developed for the formal education setting, and adapted them for use in afterschool programs for participants aged 5-12. Members of NAI's NASA Ames Research Center Lead Team served as science advisors to the guide. See http://www.amnhafterschool.pdf/.
g Imagining - While science fiction has come a long way from the days of bug-eyed monsters, the genre still hasn't gone far enough in presenting well-conceived alien beings. As a derivative genre, role-playing games have an even poorer record. See http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/columns/sfnov99.html.
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 http://64.233.167.104/searchq=cache:
BuuaRaF64gUJ:www.konkoly.hu/staff/almar/almar_rio.doc
+"Interpreting+and+Reporting+on+a+SETI+discovery"&hl=en.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Dark matter measured, Mars’ mineral spheres and ‘Before the Dawn’

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - A new study from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope suggests that galaxies form within clumps of dark matter. This mysterious substance emits no light, but it does have mass, so it can pull on matter with its gravity. Astronomers believe there's 5 times as much dark matter in the Universe as regular matter. This new Spitzer survey found that the amount of dark matter surrounding distant galaxies is surprisingly consistent. See http://internationalreporter.com/news/read.phpid=1729.
g Abodes - When scientists examined a meteorite from Mars under a microscope, they discovered tiny mineral spheres that, some argued, were produced by living organisms. Now, researchers working in the high Arctic have found similar mineral features, produced not by microbes, but by a volcano. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules
.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=1996mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Thirty years ago, a young biologist set out to explain some new ideas in evolutionary biology to a wider audience. But he ended up restating Darwinian theory in such a broad and forceful way that his book has influenced specialists as well. "Richard Dawkins: How a Scientist Changed the Way We Think" is a collection of essays about Dr. Dawkins's book "The Selfish Gene" and its impact. Contributors to the book, edited by Alan Grafen and Matt Ridley, are mostly biologists but include the novelist Philip Pullman, author of "His Dark Materials," and the bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries. See http://
www.nytimes.com/2006/06/06/science/sciencespecial2/06dawk.
htmlex=1152158400&en=98c5134982aa5f41&ei=5070.
g Intelligence - Book alert: "Before the Dawn" is beautifully done, a grand genealogy of modern humanity, rooted in fact but spiced with an appropriate measure of speculation and hypothesis. Even for a reader to whom the material is already familiar - one who, for example, has been following Nicholas Wade's reports in the New York Times - it is well worth the trouble of reading this book for its narrative value, for the elegant way Wade has put it all together as a single compelling story. This is a brilliant book, by one of our best science journalists. See http://article.nationalreview.com/q=MmFiN
GE0NjcyMjA0MGFmYjBmNzQzZTE5OGVjZGYyMGQ.
g Message - When scientists get together to talk about extraterrestrial life, they certainly don't imagine little green men. In fact, our first contact with life beyond our planet probably will involve a microbe. See http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/34079_spacelife06.shtml. Note: This article is from 2001.
g Cosmicus - Want to encourage space exploration? Join the Planetary Society (now in its 25th year). See http://planetary.org/home/.
g Learning - Natalie Meyerhoff has been fascinated with NASA and its space programs since she was an elementary school student in Palm Springs, Calif. Now, the third-grade elementary school teacher has the opportunity to participate in a NASA project that will engage her and later her students in scientific observation and data collection. See http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article
AID=/20060703/NEWS04/607030313/1006.
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 - 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 http://64.233.167.104/searchq=cache:
BuuaRaF64gUJ:www.konkoly.hu/staff/almar/almar_rio.doc+
"Interpreting+and+Reporting+on+a+SETI+discovery"&hl=en.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Capturing neutrinos, astrobiology field report from Canadian High Arctic and primate altruism

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - The American-born Nobel prizewinning chemist Raymond Davis, who has died aged 91 of complications from Alzheimer's disease, was the first person to look into the heart of a star. He did so by capturing neutrinos, ghostly particles that are emitted in the nuclear fusion reactions that power the Sun and stream across space. According to astrophysicists, the Sun emits 2-followed-by-38- zeros neutrinos a second, which means that as you read this article billions of them are hurtling through your eyeballs at almost the speed of light. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,1800815,00.html.
g Abodes - Here’s an astrobiology field report from Dale Andersen, who’s in the Canadian High Arctic searching for meteorites. See http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.htmlpid=21051.
g Life - A resilient fish — known as Antarctic notothenioids — keeps from freezing solid thanks to a special "antifreeze protein" that prevents their bodily fluids from turning into crystals. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060619_freezer_fish.html.
g Intelligence - A study recently conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, says that altruistic impulses may exist in primates other than humans. It also brings to light some surprising information about human altruism: It appears even in prelinguistic toddlers. See http://www.stnews.org/News-2891.htm.
g Message - Some people sit in the tub, yell "Eureka", and come up with a brand new view of matter. Others can be riding a trolley home and at the sight of a clock initiate a whole new concept of time. Yet another more pedantic method is to follow government procedures to resolve riddles. Steven Dick and James Strick in their book, “The Living Universe - NASA and the development of Astrobiology,” narrate how this occurred for the new academic field of astrobiology. Though perhaps not as film-worthy as instantaneous flashes, the four decades of meetings, workshops and programs described therein show that this distinct academic area had an eventful and exciting coming of age. See http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/
book_review_living_universe.html. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - After sixteen months orbiting the Moon, ESA's lunar mission is preparing for the end of its scientific exploration. On June 19, SMART-1 mission controllers initiated a 17-day series of maneuvers aimed at positioning the spacecraft to enhance science data return as the mission winds down. See http://www.astro
bio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=2003mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Here’s a neat set of lessons, designed for at-risk students: “The Plausibility of Interstellar Communication and Related Phenomena Depicted in Science Fiction Literature and the Movies.” The curriculum has four major objectives: first, to educate students to develop concepts about the proximity of our solar system in relation to other probable solar systems in the Milky Way Galaxy; second, to give students the opportunity to use these concepts to evaluate the plausibility of interstellar communication depicted in science fiction literature and movies; third, to create an opportunity for students not only to look out on the universe but to turn it inward to look at the world, their own society, and themselves as individuals; and fourth, an objective that will be integrated with all of the others is to give students to opportunity to learn and/or sharpen skills in: using the scientific method, research, reading, writing, collaboration, discussion and in critical thinking. See http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/6/98.06.02.x.html.
g Imagining - In nearly all popular science fiction dramatizations on television, most of the alien protagonists look remarkably like humans. In "Star Trek," if you forgave the Vulcan's their ears (and their hair-styles), the Klingons their foreheads and the Bajorans their ridged noses you'd think that they were all human. After all, they have two legs, two arms, 10 fingers and toes, two ears, two eyes and a nose. And while arms and eyes are universals, two arms and two legs are parochial. See article.
g Aftermath - For some provocative reading, pick up “Sharing the Universe,” by Seth Shostak, at your local bookstore. SETI scientist Shostak almost single-handedly is outlining social and political issues that will arise once we make contact with extraterrestrials. For reviews, see http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/096537
7431/10232743405947363.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Pint-sized black holes, where ancient birds evolved and ‘The Human Potential for Peace’

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Researchers have proposed a bizarre new theory that our solar system might be the home of thousands of very small black holes — that is, pint-size versions of the weirdest objects in the universe. See http://www.azstarnet.com/news/133081.
g Abodes - Scientists have found a chunk of a meteorite that made an enormous impact crater in South Africa 146 million years ago. Found half a mile down, the chrondritic meteorite somehow survived the shock pressures and temperatures of the immense impact. Fossil meteorites have previously been found in craters, but when larger bodies hit they were thought to be melted or vaporized within seconds of impact. The discovery of this meteorite may help us better understand the Earth's bombardment history. See http://
www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&
file=article&sid=1995&amp;mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Five fossils recently found in China show that ancient birds likely evolved in an aquatic environment. Gansus yumenesis, which lived some 105 to 115 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period, took modern birds through a watery path out of the dinosaur lineage. Did this aquatic lifestyle perhaps help birds survive the cataclysm that extinguished the dinosaurs 65 million years ago? See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News
&file=article&sid=1994mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - Book alert: In “The Human Potential for Peace,” Douglas Fry challenges advocates of a "dark-sided, demonic view" of humanity who allegedly believe that "humans (especially human males) are a bloodthirsty mob, prone to be violent and warlike by nature.” Fry marshals an impressive array of anthropological evidence to convince readers that humans "are not really so nasty after all,” concluding that humans deserve to be known as the "peacemaking primate.” See http://human-nature.com/ep/reviews/ep04138141.html.
g Message - Searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are about to expand into new realms, thanks to new advances in technology — and new thinking. See http://skyandtelescope.com/resources/seti/article_249_1.asp.
g Cosmicus - Could astronauts one day live in inflatable space habitats? See http://science.howstuffworks.com/inflatable-spacecraft2.htm. Note: This article is a few of years old; note that NASA didn’t deploy any inflatable space habitats in 2005.
g Learning - What are university students learning about astrobiology? Check out "An Introduction to Astrobiology." Compiled by a team of experts, this textbook has been designed for elementary university courses in astrobiology. It begins with an examination of how life may have arisen on Earth and then reviews the evidence for possible life on Mars, Europa and Titan. The potential for life in exoplanetary systems and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are also discussed. The text contains numerous useful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. It is also supported by a Web site hosting further teaching materials. Written in an accessible style that avoids complex mathematics, this book is suitable for self-study and will appeal to amateur enthusiasts as well as undergraduate students. It contains numerous helpful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. The book is also supported by a Website hosting further teaching materials. See http://www.science
daily./com/cgibin/apf4/amazon_products_feed.cgiOperation=Item
Lookup&ItemId=0521546214.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rendezvous with Rama” (1973) in which a huge ship bypasses Earth. See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg
/simexplorer/exploreitems//0553287893/0/101/1/none
/purchase/ref=pd_sxp_r0/10391543748730217.
g Aftermath - What affect would the discovery of alien life have on the story-telling genre that inspires the search for it — science fiction? See http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue388/cassutt.html.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Cosmic web’s lattice, ratio of planetary satellite systems and why human evolution occurred as it did

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers have detected substantial amounts of filamentary, cold gas in compact groups of galaxies, highlighting what may be an important force in galactic evolution, scientists announced at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Calgary, Alberta. The findings also raise the intriguing possibility that more matter than previously thought may be tied up in these galaxy groups, captured in the lattice of the cosmic web. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/10galaxygas/.
g Abodes - Each of our Solar System's outer gaseous planets hosts a system of multiple satellites, and these objects include Jupiter's volcanic Io and Europa with its believed subsurface ocean, as well as Titan with its dense and organic-rich atmosphere at Saturn. While individual satellite properties vary, the systems all share a striking similarity: the total mass of each satellite system compared to the mass of its host planet is very nearly a constant ratio, roughly 1:10,000. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop
=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1993mode=thread
&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Odd-shaped mounds of dirt in Australia are fossils of the oldest life on Earth, created by billions of microbes more than 3 billion years ago, scientists say in a new report. See http://www.
jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2006/06/17/features/
science/8526fcb2028623b58725718a0020fad1.txt.
g Intelligence - The fact of human evolution (taken here as self-evident) is of course not the same as the understanding of how that evolution occurred (still a scientific mystery, largely unexplained), It is also not the same as knowing why this evolution occurred the way it did over the millions of years needed to transform our hominid ancestors into us, rather than taking place some other possible way. See http://human-nature.com/ep/reviews/ep045774.html.
g Message - Scientists find it hard enough to pin down evidence of early life on our own planet. How on Earth do we plan to determine whether life exists elsewhere? See http://www.nature.com/cgitaf/
DynaPage.taffile=/nature/journal/v430/n6997/full/430288a_fs.
html. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, overruling objections from the agency's chief engineer and safety office, cleared the shuttle Discovery for launch July 1 on a mission to service and resupply the International Space Station. The flight also will clear the way for the resumption of station assembly later this fall and deliver a third full-time crew member to the international outpost. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060617july1/.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site in which Monica Grady, head of petrology and meteoritics in the department of mineralogy at the Natural History Museum, presents a comprehensive introduction to astrobiology: http://www.fathom.com/course/10701047/index.html/.
g Imagining - In science fiction, aliens often are humanoids. Just how different will extraterrestrial life likely be from the varieties found on Earth? See http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/E/etlifevar.html.
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 http://ieti.org/articles/security.htm.

Friday, June 16, 2006

Who is Frank Drake, aliens as “the other” and popular opinion on extraterrestrials

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - In “Backyard Astronomy from Mars” carried in the August issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, author Jim Bell details use of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers to carry out nighttime observations. He is an astronomer and planetary scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and is the leader of the Mars Exploration Rover Panoramic Camera team. See http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060616_mars_astronomy.html.
g Abodes - Book alert: The publication in English of a new volume of writings, “Essays on Geochemistry and the Biosphere,” by the great Russian-Ukrainian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky, should be viewed with great interest, and not only by those active in the scientific fields with which these essays deal. It is also to be hoped that the publication is a harbinger of more to come in English from the Vernadsky writings. See http://www.larouchepub.com/other/
2006/book_reviews/3324_vernadsky.html.
g Life - A butterfly has been reproduced by scientists, revealing for the first time the colorful past of a striking wild species. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtmlxml=/news/2006/06/15/
wlab15.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/06/15/ixnews.html.
g Intelligence - Human domestication of some animals may have shaped their cognitive abilities. Indeed, dogs respond better to human signals than the more intelligent chimpanzee. See http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513728.
g Message - For the past few decades, many astronomers (especially those who work on radio wavelength!) have been fascinated with the idea of communicating with intelligent technological civilizations (who have developed radio or laser communication). Among the first leading radio astronomers in this direction was Frank Drake who suggested an empirical relation for estimating the number of such civilizations in our galaxy. See http://www.iiap.res.in/outreach/astrobiol5.html.
g Cosmicus - The European Space Agency and the Australian National University have successfully tested a new design of spacecraft ion engine that dramatically improves performance over present thrusters and marks a major step forward in space propulsion capability. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/
01/060112040320.htm.
g Learning - There may be numerous intelligent civilizations on planets throughout our galaxy. That's the hypothesis driving SETI research. We seek evidence of extraterrestrial technology using optical and radio telescopes to search for signals that emanate from other civilized worlds. These places are far, far away. But, when discussing the search with school children, they often simply ask, "Why don't we just go there?" This can be a teachable moment. See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_devore_distance_031204.
html. Note: This article is from Dec. 2003.
g Imagining - In popular fiction and conspiracy theories, life forms, especially intelligent life forms, that are of extraterrestrial origin, i.e. not coming from the Earth are referred to as alien and collectively as aliens. Prime examples of how aliens are viewed are found in the movies Alien, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Signs, Independence Day, and The War of the Worlds. This usage is clearly anthropocentric: When humans in fictional accounts accomplish interstellar travel and land on a planet elsewhere in the universe, the local inhabitants of these other planets are usually still referred to as "alien," even though they are the native life form and the humans are the intruders. In general they are seen as unfriendly life forms. This may be seen as a reversion to the classic meaning of "alien" as referring to "other," in contrast to "us" in the context of the writer's frame of reference. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life_in_popular_culture.
g Aftermath - The good news is that polls continue to show that between one and two-thirds of the public thinks that extraterrestrial life exists. The weird news is that a similar fraction think that some of it is visiting Earth. See http://www.seti.org/site/apps/nl/content
2.aspc=ktJ2J9MMIsE&b=194993&ct=1163827.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

New Horizons test, technological manifestations of an intelligent species and an extraterrestrial’s legal rights

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Massive star supernovae have been major "dust factories" ever since the first generations of stars formed several hundred million years after the Big Bang, according to an international study published in Science Express. See http://www.yubanet.com/artman/publish/article_37255.shtml.
g Abodes - It's a small object with big news for the New Horizons team: The first spacecraft to Pluto tested its tracking and imaging capabilities this week on asteroid 2002 JF56, a relatively tiny space rock orbiting in the asteroid belt. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/15newhorizons/.
g Life - In a paper soon to be published in the journal Astrobiology, Pascale Ehrenfreund and colleagues suggest that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organic molecules found throughout space, may have been important multi-taskers in the origin of life on Earth. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=
News&file=article&sid=1992mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - Using a revolutionary imaging process, a new study is revealing that wrinkles aren't the only cue the human eye looks for to evaluate age. Scientists at the Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for Urban Ethology (Austria) and the Department for Sociobiology/Anthropology at the University of Goettingen (Germany), have shown that facial skin color distribution, or tone, can add, or subtract, as much as 20 years to a woman's age. See http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.phpnewsid=45014.
g Message - What technological manifestations would make an advanced extraterrestrial civilization detectable? See http://www.coseti.org/lemarch1.htm. Note: This paper was written in 1992.
g Cosmicus - In the not-too-distant future, a handful of humans fortunate enough to have secured a place in a crowded spacecraft may become galactic refugees trying to find a habitable planet among the billions of stars in the Milky Way. There may be no turning back, for dear Earth could already have been consumed in hellish fires resulting from the environmental damage of human activity. After billions of years, planet Earth will have finally come to a flaming end, devastated either by a doomsday asteroid or shaken by nuclear explosions rending its surface. See http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?menu=A11100&no=298798&rel_no=1&back_url.
g Learning - Eighteen middle school and high school U.S. science teachers will soon depart for Alaska for a Mars exploration and polar science research experience. See http://www.dailyindia.com/show/34688.php/Teachers-to-learn-about-Mars-Earth-science.
g Imagining - Book alert: In our current cultural fascination with the idea of alien beings from other worlds, most of it hokey at best and just plain wrong at worst, there is a definite need for some popular-level literature which helps to sort the rational wheat from the pseudoscience and Hollywood chaff. SETI scientist Seth Shostak wrote such a book, “Sharing the Universe,” in 1998. Shostak gives a comprehensive and most readable survey of what we do (and especially do not) know about life beyond the planet Earth, and how we are going about searching for our fellow inhabitants of the universe. See http://www.coseti.org/klaessho.htm.
g Aftermath - When an alien lands on the White House lawn, who should greet him (her? it?): Someone from the Immigration and Naturalization Service or someone from the Fish and Wildlife Commission? What legal rights would an extraterrestrial have? See http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/LegalRightsOfETs.htm. Note: This article is from 1977, but the issue has been thought about very little.

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Astrobiology expedition to Arctic glacier field, golden record and star life

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Sibling rivalry is alive and well in outer space. The Milky Way galaxy has two sister spirals competing for attention from photographers. The Andromeda galaxy usually wins the contest, posing frequently for cosmic portraits. In this new image from the MMT Observatory, the second sister finally gets her due notice. Here, the Triangulum galaxy emerges from the shadows to reveal stunning swirls of stars and dust dotted with brilliant pink nebulae. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/14milkywaysister/.
g Abodes - A scientific expedition to a remote glacier field in Canada's High Arctic may help researchers unlock the secrets about the beginning of life and provide insights for future exploration of our solar system. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.
phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1991mode
=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Another important piece to the photosynthesis puzzle is now in place. Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley have identified one of the key molecules that help protect plants from oxidation damage as the result of absorbing too much light. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/01/050121093925.htm.
g Intelligence - An ancient rock carving has been linked to an astronomical event. See http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20097.
g Message - When the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft were launched in 1977, they each included a gold-plated phonograph record (a "golden record") of natural sounds, greetings in human voices, and a variety of music. The record cover has symbolic instructions that show how to use and understand the record, though scientists still debate whether other civilizations will be able to decipher them. For info on Voyager’s golden record, see http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html. For an explanation of the record cover diagram, see http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec1.html. For an interactive module that contains greetings, sounds, and pictures included on the record (requires Flash plug-in), see http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/flash/voyager_record/index_voyager.html.
g Cosmicus - Biomimetic devices look to nature for inspiration, mimicking the way insects, plants and animals cope with difficulties. From the way plants furl their leaves to how wasps bore holes into trees, evolution has developed clever and varied ways to solve engineering problems. Alex Ellery is the head of the Robotics Research group at the Surrey Space Centre in the United Kingdom. In this interview with Astrobiology Magazine, he explains how robotics can borrow from the strategies used by life, and discusses how these techniques may be used in future European space exploration missions. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20096.
g Learning - Here’s a neat set of lessons, designed for at-risk students: “The Plausibility of Interstellar Communication and Related Phenomena Depicted in Science Fiction Literature and the Movies.” The curriculum has four major objectives: first, to educate students to develop concepts about the proximity of our solar system in relation to other probable solar systems in the Milky Way Galaxy; second, to give students the opportunity to use these concepts to evaluate the plausibility of interstellar communication depicted in science fiction literature and movies; third, to create an opportunity for students not only to look out on the universe but to turn it inward to look at the world, their own society, and themselves as individuals; and fourth, an objective that will be integrated with all of the others is to give students to opportunity to learn and/or sharpen skills in: using the scientific method, research, reading, writing, collaboration, discussion and in critical thinking. See http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/6/98.06.02.x.html.
g Imagining - We normally think of life developing on a planet. But could it evolve on a star? Robert L. Forward took this idea to an extreme in “Dragon's Egg,” a novel about life on the surface of a neutron star, composed of very dense "degenerate" matter. Surface gravity is in the millions, and the inhabitants live and think proportionally faster. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/
034543529X/10355674236622261v=glance&n=283155.
g Aftermath - Scientists should pay greater attention to discussing the social implications of discovering extraterrestrial life - even though many researchers shy away from the subject because they don't consider it "hard" science. See http://www.astrobio.net/ news/article163.html.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Star formation has gone wild, impact crater beneath Antarctic ice and Bernal sphere

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Staring into the crowded, dusty core of two merging galaxies, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a region where star formation has gone wild. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/14starbirth/.
g Abodes - "Snowball Earth" proponents, who say that Earth's oceans were long ago covered by thick ice, explain the survival of life by hypothesizing the existence of small warm spots, or refugia. On the other side, supporters of a "Slushball Earth" say the planet included large areas of thin ice or open ocean, particularly around the equator. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17926.
g Life - The eroded remnant of a huge impact crater has been discovered beneath the Antarctic ice sheet in Wilkes Land. Its estimated age of 250 million years and its 500 km diameter make the impact a plausible suspect for the mass extinction that marked the end of the Permian era, when 90 per cent of all species on Earth were wiped out, allowing the dinosaurs to become the dominant land-dwelling animals. See http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10386431.
g Intelligence - Hobbit-sized humans who survived on an isolated Indonesian island until 12,000 years ago were smart enough to make stone tools even though they had small brains, scientists have said. See http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=301666&sid=FTP.
g Message - SETI research isn’t limited to a single facility listening to radio signals. Another dimension of the program is The Mega-Channel Extraterrestrial Assay, which searched the Southern Hemisphere's skies briefly during the 1990s. To learn more about it, see http://www.planetary.org/html/UPDATES/seti/META2/META-story.html.
g Cosmicus - A key step to establishing humanity as a spacefaring race will be permanent space habitats. One possible design a Bernal sphere, first proposed in 1929 by Dr. John Desmond Bernal. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_sphere.
g Learning - Here’s a neat interactive Web site for kids: “Are Humans All Alone in the Universe?” In the program, kids get to search for ET — and learn some principles of science along the way. See http://jvsc.jst.go.jp/universe/et_e/index_e.htm.
g Imagining - Scientists at the SETI Institute have long considered what life might be like on other worlds. You can join in this quest through a game-like science lesson, "Inventing Life Forms." It’s suitable for inventors of all ages. Using one of a pair of dice, you work through the selection of characteristics for your life form. Then, you apply this data and your imagination to invent a life form and develop a world where your creature could live. Download the instructions for "Inventing Life Forms" from the SETI Institute website. It’s the PDF lesson featured with our teaching guide, "How Might Life Evolve on Other Worlds?"
g Aftermath - Reactions to the announcement that scientists had found evidence for primitive life in a meteorite from Mars have been intense. Some concerned the scientific evidence, some the implications of extraterrestrial life, especially if intelligent. Underlying these reactions are assumptions, or beliefs, which often have a religious grounding. The two divergent beliefs, for and against the plurality of life in the universe, are examined historically and through religious traditions, particularly the Judeo-Christian. This examination guides the formulation of the right relation between science and religion as one that respects the autonomy of each discipline, yet allows for each to be open to the discoveries of the other. Based on this relationship, perspectives from scientific exploration are developed that can help individuals to respect and cope with the new phenomena that science brings, whether these imply that we might be alone in the universe or co-creatures of God with the ancient Martians. See http://www.aaas.org/spp/dser/cosmos/perspectives/corbally.shtml.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Galaxy-sized ball of fire, habitable worlds around red dwarfs and astrobiology expedition to Atacama

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Thanks to data from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray satellite, a team of international scientists found a comet-like ball of gas over a thousand million times the mass of the sun hurling through a distant galaxy cluster over 750 kilometers per second. This colossal "ball of fire" is by far the largest object of this kind ever identified. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0606/12fireballs/.
g Abodes - Can planets orbiting red dwarf M-type stars support life, perhaps even intelligent creatures? So far, most scientists emphatically have said “No.” For a different perspective, see http://www.astrobio.net/news/article901.html. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Life - Dr. Baruch Blumberg, who served as the first Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, is one of the world's leading experts on the hepatitis B virus. He was the 1976 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, for his discovery of the virus, and subsequently helped develop both the test used for detecting it and a vaccine to prevent its spread. Hepatitis B virus, a primary cause of fatal liver cancer, has infected some 2 billion people now alive worldwide, and about 375 million remain infected. Blumberg is currently the senior advisor to the president of the Fox Chase Cancer Center and a professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, both in Philadelphia. Astrobiology Magazine interviewed Dr. Blumberg about hepatitis B, his current research, and the role of viruses in the evolution of life on Earth. In this second and final part of the interview, Dr. Blumberg discusses the worldwide effort to vaccinate children against hepatitis B, and weighs in on the question of whether or not viruses are alive. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20072.
g Intelligence - Rapid climate change may have enabled early humans to venture out of Africa and colonize the rest of the world, according to a new study. See http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060612-africa.html.
g Message - Here’s a neat radio interview on the program “Earth and Sky,” about scientists looking for evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth. See http://www.earthsky.com/shows/edgeofdiscovery.php?date=20030513. Note: The interview is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - Future explorers on the Moon and Mars could be outfitted in lightweight, high-tech spacesuits that offer far more flexibility than the bulky suits that were used for spacewalks in the 1960s. Research is under way at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on a “Bio-Suit System” that incorporates a suit designed to augment a person’s biological skin by providing mechanical counter-pressure. The “epidermis” of such a second skin could be applied in spray-on fashion in the form of an organic, biodegradable layer. See http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/
spacesuit_innovations_050126.html. Note: This article is form 2005.
g Learning - What are seven NASA Explorer School teachers doing in the Atacama desert in Chile? They are studying side-by-side with NASA scientists who search for life in extreme environments, closely approximating what they expect to find on other planets. Why the Atacama - an inhospitable, seemingly lifeless, sun drenched spot that is probably the driest place on Earth? See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20071.
g Imagining - The students of Prof. Joan Slonczewski, who taught “Biology 103: Biology in Science Fiction” at Kenyon College in 2003, using astrobiological principles, attempted to create a number of plausible alien civilizations and worlds as a class project. Here’s another one, about the life in the ecosystem of planet Ralinius. See http://biology.kenyon.edu/slonc/bio3/2001projects/Ralinius/Wel
come.htm.
g Aftermath - If, as “The X-Files'” Fox Mulder might say, "The truth is out there," then the researchers running the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence program are likely to be the first ones to find it. On the other hand, there are numerous people who believe they've already been in contact with aliens. National Geographic's video ”Phantom Quest: The Search for Extraterrestrials” studies the claims of both groups, ultimately seeking to reveal precisely what an encounter with beings from another planet could mean for humanity. See http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue128/cool.html.