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 Abodes - NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity has arrived at the rim of a crater approximately five times wider than a previous stadium-sized one it studied for half a year. See http://www.astrobio.net
/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=
2099mode=thread&order=0&thold=0. For related story, see “NASA's new Mars camera gives clear view of planet” at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0609/29mrohirise/.
g Life - A tuberculosis pandemic among an ancient mammoth-like creature probably contributed to the great beasts' demise, a new study suggests. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld
/060922_mastodon_tb.html.
g Intelligence - Two MIT scientists have used nanotechnology to reconnect brain cells. See http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=nas1033_brainhealingbridges.
g Cosmicus - Anousheh Ansari’s is not a tourist. The self-described “space ambassador” is better described as a “space adventurer.” See http://www.space.com/adastra/060918_woodsmansee_ansari.html. For related story, see “Ansari blog provides insight into life aboard space station” at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/station/exp14/060925ansari.html.
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.