Monday, March 05, 2007

Io’s Tvashtar volcano and Arizona cave millipede

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 - A new image of Io provides the best view yet of the enormous 180-mile high plume from the volcano Tvashtar. See http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0703/01io/.
g Life - A new genus of millipede living in Arizona caves was recently discovered by a Northern Arizona University doctoral student and a Bureau of Land Management researcher. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070302171352.htm.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity that examines if yeast, a common yet tenacious microbe, can survive boiling water, salt, UV radiation and citric acid? Students find out for themselves by creating "Planets in a Bottle" which illustrate extreme conditions on other worlds. See articles.