Saturday, February 16, 2008

What Viking really revealed and Astrobiology Primer

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 - Scientists are beginning to understand the source of the giant geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. A new theory points to the potential existence of a liquid reservoir or lake just beneath the moon's surface. See article.
Life - The 1976 Viking mission sampled the strongly rusting soil on Mars. Retrospectively, its three biology experiments give insight into the challenges of working remotely, where one can never have too much data for further analysis. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Learning - The Astrobiology Primer has been created as a reference tool for those who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. The field incorporates many diverse research endeavors, but it is our hope that this slim volume will present the reader with all he or she needs to know to become involved and to understand, at least at a fundamental level, the state of the art. See article.

No comments: