Monday, June 09, 2008

Intelligence vs. cosmic gurgle and Martian methane

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 - What is the habitable zone for the nearby star system Luyten 726-8?
g Abodes - Research on methane at a Mexican salt flat could help reveal the source of methane that has been detected in the atmosphere of Mars. But first scientists have to decipher the unique – and seemingly contradictory - isotopic signature of the Mexican methane. See article. For related story, see “Mars Soil, Chunky-Style”.
g Message - How can we be sure scientists listening to noise from space have picked up intelligence, and not just the cosmic gurgle of a completely natural object? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - A British space expert has described the Phoenix Mars probe's successful landing as a "massive step forward" in the quest to establish whether life can exist on the Red Planet. See article.
g Aftermath - Will ET be altruistic or hostile? An Internet poll found a strong connection between people's beliefs about extraterrestrials and their feelings about how meaningful life is. What makes the results even more compelling is that they match the findings of an earlier study conducted under more stringent testing conditions. See article. Note: This article is from February 2002.

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