Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Our calling card to other planets and lab-on-a-chip for Mars

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 Struve 2398 ABC?
g Abodes - Single person submersibles have been called in to help scientists retrieve samples from a lake in northern British Columbia that may hold vital clues to the history of life on Earth and on other planets. See article.
g Life - Recent probes inside comets show it is overwhelmingly likely that life began in space, according to a new paper by Cardiff University scientists. See article.
g Message - Are the Olympics has been our diplomatic calling card in other places beyond the home planet? See article. Note: This article is from 2004. See article.
g Cosmicus - A device the size of a credit card is being developed to perform multiple laboratory tests on the surface of Mars. The 'lab-on-a-chip' will be included on the European ExoMars rover, and will be used to search for signs of life on the red planet. See article.
g Learning - In the 19h century, the new science of geology was greatly affected by technological innovations. From Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition is an essay about how Jules Verne used his novels, such as "Journey to the Centre of the Earth," to explore the latest geological findings. See article.
g Aftermath - Quote of the Day: "The possibility of intelligent life beyond Earth … . Few important subjects are so data-poor, so subject to unwarranted and biased extrapolations - and so caught up in mankind's ultimate destiny - as is this one." — David Brin

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