Cosmic ancestry and using the social sciences to decipher our thoughts on alien life

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 - The search for habitable planets like Earth around other stars fulfils an ancient imperative to understand our origins and place in the cosmos. The past decade has seen the discovery of hundreds of planets, but nearly all are gas giants. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Life - "Cosmic ancestry" is a new theory pertaining to evolution and the origin of life on Earth. It holds that life on Earth was seeded from space, and that life's evolution to higher forms depends on genetic programs that come from space. It accepts the Darwinian account of evolution that does not require new genetic programs. It is a wholly scientific, testable theory for which evidence is accumulating. See article.
g Message - We’ve all heard of SETI, bit what about METI — “Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” or sending both scientific and artistic messages to the stars? See article. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Aftermath - How is SETI using the social sciences to decipher our thoughts on alien life? See article. Note: This article is from 2002.