Triple interactions of black holes, stromatolites’ secrets above exoplanetary life and alien fungal life forms

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 - New cosmological computer simulations produced by a team of astronomers from Northwestern University, Harvard University and the University of Michigan show for the first time that supermassive black holes, which exist at the centers of nearly all galaxies, often come together during triple galaxy interactions. See http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0701/08blackholes/.
g Life - Stromatolites may look like stones, but these structures are created by communities of microoganisms. In this interview, Janet Siefert describes how modern stromatolites can help us learn more about ancient life on Earth, and possibly even life on other worlds. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop= modload&name
=News&file=article&sid=2201mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Message - More than 30 years ago, humanity sent its first and only deliberate radio message to extraterrestrials. Nobody has called back yet, but that's OK - we weren't really expecting an answer. See http://www.spaceref.com:16080/news/viewpr.html?pid=109. Note: This article is from 1999.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity courtesy of DiscoverSchool.com: “Extraterrestrials.” In the activity, a digital radio message, intended to alert any intelligent life in space to the existence of intelligent life on Earth, has been electronically transmitted into space by the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico. Students must ensure the message is effective by showing that the senders (humans from Earth) are capable of advanced thinking — but it must not depend on the ability of extraterrestrials to understand any Earth language. See http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/
programs/extraterrestrials/extraterrestrials.rtfprograms/extraterr
estrials.rtf.
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 - Book alert: The authentic discovery of extraterrestrial life would usher in a scientific revolution on par with Copernicus or Darwin, writes Paul Davies in “Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life.” Just as these ideas sparked religious and philosophical controversy when they were first offered, so would proof of life arising away from Earth. With this brief book (160 pages, including two appendices and an index), Davies tries to get ahead of the curve and begin to sort out the metaphysical mess before it happens. Many science fiction writers have preceded him, of course, but here the matter is plainly put. This is a very good introduction to a compelling subject. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465004180/ref=sid_dp_dp/
103-7507272-1771804?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155.