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 - The discovery of 28 new planets and 7 brown dwarfs outside the Solar System was recently announced by the world's largest planet-hunting team. New and refined techniques are responsible for the large number of planets detected, and may soon help the team discover smaller, Earth-like planets around distant stars. See article.
g Cosmicus - At a recent Astrobiology Science Conference, scientists and science fiction writers faced off in front of a packed audience to debate the promise and pitfalls of terraforming Mars. In part 4 of this 7-part series, Greg Bear ponders the evolution of humans into Martians. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1021.html. For related story, see “Birthplace of famous Mars meteorite pinpointed” at http://www.newscientistspace.com/channel/space-tech/astrobiology/dn8004.
g Learning - Book alert: Astrobiology is a very broad interdisciplinary field covering the origin, evolution, distribution, and destiny of life in the universe, as well as the design and implementation of missions for solar system exploration. The last section of the “The New Science of Astrobiology,” by J. Chela-Flores, consists of a supplement, including a glossary, notes and tables, which represent highly condensed `windows' into research ranging from basic sciences to earth and life sciences, as well as the humanities. These additions should make this book accessible to a wide readership: scientists, humanists, and the general reader will have an opportunity to participate in one of the most rewarding activities of contemporary culture. See http://www.amazon.com/New-Science-Astrobiology-Evolution-Intelligent/dp/1402022298.
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.