Spiral galaxy formation and ancient organisms preserved inside salt crystals

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 - A new study indicates that spiral galaxies, like the Milky Way, evolve in shape over time. The finding is providing important information about the history of our galaxy and the conditions in which our solar system may have formed. See article.
g Abodes -NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft has filmed the Moon transiting Earth from 31 million miles away. The event is now being used to develop techniques for studying alien worlds. See article.
g Life - Scientists have discovered fibers from ancient organisms preserved inside salt crystals in New Mexico. The surprising finding could help astrobiologists search for signs of life on other planets. See article.
g Message -In SETI program planning, higher priority should be given in the near-term to those probe and artifact searches which can be carried out quickly and inexpensively, in preference to larger more expensive beacon searches which should be mounted in the decades ahead. See article.
g Cosmicus - Quote of the Day: “The finer part of mankind will, in all likelihood, never perish – they will migrate from sun to sun as they go out. And so there is no end to life, to intellect and the perfection of humanity. Its progress is everlasting.” - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
g Learning - In the history of science and technology, there is an infrequent combination of empirical discoveries, theories and technology developments converge that make it possible to recognize a new discipline. See article.
g Aftermath - Aftermath Here’s an interesting book for some astrobiological reading: “After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life”by Albert A. Harrison. Read some reviews.