Source of methane on Mars and how Galileo changed the world

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 - A team of researchers have announced another milestone in determining the source of methane on Mars, along with the best next steps to ascertain whether the gas is connected to life or to geologic activity on the Red Planet. See article.
g Life - The first animal life may have emerged from a planetary deep-freeze 635 million years ago to eventually become a small part of those gallons of regular or high test that we pump into our gas tanks each week. See article.
g Intelligence - People in AD 1000 may have made drinks from cacao beans, which researchers had believed were brought from Mexico in the 15th century. See article.
g Cosmicus - China and Japan are contributing to a cutting-edge East Asian radio telescope network by respectively building the world's top-level radio telescope apparatus to be dedicated to further observations into the galaxy and black holes. See article.
g Learning - The revolution was not his alone. The idea was actually an ancient one, and other scientists had embraced it along the way. But it took Galileo and the telescope he built to prove the truth to the masses: Earth is not the center of the universe. See article.

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