Christmas Eve meteor and interview with SETI’s Jill Tarter

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 - Astronomers have found that moons like ours are likely to be uncommon in the universe, and arise in only 5 to 10 percent of planetary systems. The study could have implications in the search for habitable planets beyond our Solar System. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Life - For the first time, scientists have observed the role that water lubricants play in the functioning of proteins. The research sheds light on how proteins perform functions to support life, and may yield clues about the inner workings of early life on our planet. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Message - Here’s an interesting interview of Jill Tarter, the director of the SETI Institute, by The Montreal Mirror from 2002.
g Cosmicus - Humans have been going into space ever since the Russian Aviation and Space Agency launched Yuri Gagarin into a single orbit about Earth on April 21, 1961 aboard Vostok 1. In the intervening 47 years, there have been 292 manned space flights; 182 by NASA, 105 by Russia, two by China, and three by private company Scaled Composites. Out of all of those missions, the majority—in fact a full 283—never really did anything more than go around the block, so to speak. Only nine manned missions have ever truly left Earth and entered the gravitational influence of any other celestial body. See article.
g Learning - Early on Christmas Eve 1858, “people who in the streets, on pathways and in the fields saw a magnificent ball of fire appear, which shone with a brilliant, blinding light and all the colors of the rainbow, obscured the light of the moon and descended majestically from the sky”. See article.