Planetary danger zones, Medusa hydrothermal vent field and finding Mars’ underground caves

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 - Scientists have developed the first maps of planetary 'danger zones', where powerful winds and radiation from hot stars can strip neighboring stars of their planet-forming materials. The findings show that potential planets can safely form around cooler stars that are at least 1.6 light-years away from their hotter counterparts. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name
=News&file=article&sid=2308mode=thread&
order=0&thold=0.
g Abodes - Scientists have discovered a new 'black smoker' 8,500 feet underwater along the Pacific Ocean floor off Costa Rica. Now dubbed the Medusa hydrothermal vent field, this deep sea environment supports many unique organisms, including some species that may be previously undiscovered. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name
=News&file=article&sid=2306mode=thread&
order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Vitamin C is possibly the most important small molecule whose biosynthetic pathway remained a mystery. That is until now. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070427172924.htm.
g Intelligence - Scores on elementary school achievement tests have a lot to do with IQ and where kids end up later in life, a new study shows. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/070416_achievement_iq.html.
g Message - If some day we decide to transmit intentional messages to the stars, rather than solely listen as current SETI programs do, what would we say? What sort of first impression would we want to give our celestial correspondents? See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_code_vakoch_030116.html.
g Cosmicus - Underground caves could prove ideal as places for future human explorers to live on Mars. But first, someone has to find them. Jut Wynne is trying to figure out how. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name
=News&file=article&sid=2316mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity: “Moons of Jupiter.” In this lesson plan, students build model rovers to learn about engineering and evidence of alien life. See http://www.adlerplanet/arium.org/education/teachers/
plans/alien/Lesson_Plan.pdfarium.org/education/teachers/
plans/alien/Lesson_Plan.pdf.
g Imagining - Like stories about alien anthropology/cultures? Be sure to scour your favorite used bookstores for C.J. Cherryh’s series “The Foreigner Universe,” which includes “Foreigner” (1994), “Invader” (1995) and “Inheritor” (1996). The series traces our dealings with the proud Atevi from first contact, as the single ambassador they will allow on planet tries to prevent war.
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 is a fundamental idea in religions. See http://www.philosophos.com/knowledge_base/
archives_10/philosophy_questions_1041.html.