Embracing alternative biochemistries and the world's highest-known microbial ecosystems

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 - Gases rising from deep within the Earth are fueling the world's highest-known microbial ecosystems, which have been detected near the rim of the 19,850-foot-high Socompa volcano in the Andes by a University of Colorado at Boulder research team. See article.
g Life - A key challenge in astrobiology is to comprehend life and its interaction with the environment at a level sufficiently fundamental to embrace the alternative biochemistries that maybe encountered in a search for life elsewhere. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's Kepler mission has been successfully launched into space. Kepler is designed to find Earth-size planets that may have liquid water on their surfaces. Liquid water is believed to be essential for the formation of life. See article.

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