Clues about the origin of life on Earth and dark comets

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 - Galaxies can be classified as spiral, elliptical or merging. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has images of nearly a million galaxies. See article.
g Abodes - The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday. See article.
g Life - Researchers in the field of synthetic biology are yielding clues about the origin of life on Earth. By studying how molecules self-assemble, the team is helping scientists understand how the first protocells may have captured energy and nutrients from the environment - allowing for growth and reproduction. See article.
g Cosmicus - Comets could be the most significant impact hazard to Earth, with sky surveys underestimating the number that are potentially devastating by a factor of between 10 and 100, British astrophysicists say. See article.

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