Astronomers pretending to be aliens and space storms

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - A new technique for finding wet exoplanets got a field test when astronomers pretended to be aliens. See article.
g Life - A robot that slinks along the ground and winds through water like a salamander is helping scientists understand how animals walked from aquatic environments onto land millions of years ago. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's THEMIS mission has been used to pinpoint the impact epicenter of an Earth-bound space storm, providing advance warning of its arrival. Storms such as this can dump large amounts of power into the Earth's atmosphere, causing beautiful auroras. However, space storms also have the potential to harm satellites and astronauts in orbit. See article.
g Imagining - The first step in imagining what a real alien might look like is to forget you ever watched the "The X-Files." They won't be the sinister grays Fox Mulder pursues, little green men or even jolly old E.T. And most assuredly they won't look like us. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

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Tossing the snowball theory and six man crew aboard ISS

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The Phoenix Mars Lander ended its mission last November, but scientists are still pondering the data. One intriguing discovery was a nightly cycle in which water vapor in the atmosphere collapsed into the Martian soil. One researcher thinks this may hint of dew-like films that could have supported life in a previous Martian climate. See article.
g Life - New fossil studies indicate that the 'Snowball Earth' glaciations may not have been responsible for a massive die-off of early life on our planet. The real culprit could be bacterial blooms similar to those seen today in coastal areas and lakes that experience high run-off from fertilizers used in farming. See article.
g Intelligence - Book alert: What will be the lasting impression made by mankind - 100 million years hence? Jan Zalasiewicz, a lecturer in geology at the University of Leicester, has published a new book looking at the lasting impression likely to be made by mankind. See article.
g Cosmicus - For the first time in its history the international space station (ISS) has taken on a full complement of six astronauts with a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying three new space travellers docking at the orbiting complex on Friday. See article.
g Learning - Why do the United States and NASA need astrobiology? An astrobiologist answers. Note: This article is from 2006.
g Imagining - What will an alien look like? If you follow the viewpoint of most television sci-fi, then all aliens will be men in rubber alien suits. The producers of “Star Trek” seem to think aliens are just like humans with little latex ridges on the noses or foreheads. The reason for this anthropomorphism on TV is that it’s cheap. The alien in the movie “Alien” was gross and ugly, and we surely would never be able to discuss our New Age feelings with such a creature. It cost the movie producers much more than a little latex on the bridge of an actor’s nose. The truth is that we are much more likely to meet Sigourney Weavers’s alien than a Bajoran. See article.
g Aftermath - In the absence of knowledge of physical and cultural clues, communication between two species can be almost impossible — almost. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

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Seeking ET’s biosignature and ‘Beyond Contact’

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - With hundreds of extrasolar planets now discovered, one pressing question is how to tell if life resides on any of this galactic real estate. Researchers have found that a possible biosignature could come from life's preference for molecules of a particular handedness. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA will launch two new satellites to the moon this June, returning a wealth of new information on our nearest celestial neighbor. The LRO and LCROSS missions will return data essential in preparing for future human exploration of the lunar surface. See article.
g Learning - Armed with a camera and zeal for adventure, Del Padre Digital’s Mark Archer will step into the clouds next month, as part of an educational project aimed at making science education more interactive and accessible for students of all ages. See article.
g Aftermath - Book alert: As many Earthlings already know —including more than 2 million computer users with firsthand experience — our best hope for finding extraterrestrial intelligence might just lie with an ingenious little screensaver. So it's not surprising that “Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilizations” (by Brian S. McConnell), an introduction to searching for and communicating with intelligent life, begins with some of the details behind UC Berkeley's groundbreaking, massively distributed SETI@home project, which processes intergalactic noise for pennies on the teraflop. But that's just the start of the story. Inventor and software developer Brian McConnell continues with an overview of whether and why we might find something out there, who's doing what to look for it (including the folks at Berkeley), and — once some ET picks up on the other end — what we might say and how we might say it. This last problem, which occupies the final half of the book, proves to be the most thought provoking, and McConnell has put together a methodical, nuts-and-bolts walkthrough of both the challenges involved and how binary code might be enlisted to solve them.

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Spacecraft could determine if exoplanets harbor water and ambitious lunar reconnaissance mission

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Using instruments aboard the Deep Impact spacecraft, a team of astronomers and astrobiologists has devised a technique to tell whether such a planet harbors liquid water, which in turn could tell whether it might be able to support life. See article.
g Cosmicus - Factors of time and distance have obscured from view the winners and losers that remain across one of the great battlegrounds of the Cold War - the Moon. Those interfering veils are about to be lifted by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, set for liftoff June 17 on the most ambitious lunar mission since Apollo 17 in 1972. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a good primer to astrobiology that discusses what is astrobiology, lists the types of questions astrobiology seeks to answer, describes how one can become an astrobiologist, and recommends some books in the field. See article.
g Aftermath - Here’s an interesting book that is slated for June publication: “Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials,” by Michael Michaud. This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. As necessary background, the book also included brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create. See article.

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Eleven-year-old SETI scientist and ice falling from the sky

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Large chunks of ice recently dropped out of clear blue sky, but no one sure where they came from. See article.
g Message - Communication with extraterrestrial intelligence depends as much upon social support for the project as upon appropriate engineering design and upon the actual existence of a nearby extrasolar civilization. The results of a sociological survey of 1,465 American college students provide the first detailed analysis of the social and ideological factors that influence support for CETI, thereby suggesting ways that support might be increased. Linked to the most idealistic goals of the space program, notably interplanetary colonization, enthusiasm for CETI is little affected by attitudes toward technology or militarism. Few sciences or scholarly fields encourage CETI, with the exceptions of anthropology and astronomy. Support is somewhat greater among men than among women, but the sex difference is far less than in attitudes toward space flight in general. Evangelical Protestantism, represented by the "Born Again" movement, strongly discourages support for CETI. Just as exobiology begins with an understanding of terrestrial biology, exosociology on the question of how interstellar contact can be achieved should begin with serious sociological study of factors operating on our own world. See article. Note: This article is from 1983.
g Cosmicus - Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies is one of the most innovative thinkers in the field of astrobiology, a field known for attracting scientists who think outside the box. Since September 2006, Davies has been the director of Arizona State University’s BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science. Below is the text of a presentation he gave at the NASA-sponsored Astrobiology Science Conference in 2008, in which he argued that the most cost-effective way to send humans to Mars would be to send them with the understanding that they wouldn’t be coming back. See article.
g Learning - The other day, in a beige cubicle at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, a scientist named Kamau Hamilton tapped some numbers into a computer. A giant radio telescope 300 miles away swiveled clockwise in response - the better to detect a possible extraterrestrial transmission. Kamau watched the telescope on a video feed for a moment. Then he pushed back from the desk, pulled up his jeans, ran over to the other side of the room and began playing with some other cool SETI stuff. Kamau is 11. See article.
g Aftermath - The spaceship comes down in your backyard, crushing a bed of petunias, and out steps the alien. This is always an awkward social moment. What, exactly, do you say to someone who may hold the secrets to the universe? See article.

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Shuttle program’s last days and why we should be able to talk with ET

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Cosmicus - Today the 30-year-old shuttle program is in the midst of another terminal event that is neither sudden, shocking, nor being replayed relentlessly on national television. But this time there will be no rebounding. The space shuttle is scheduled to go away for good - next year. See article. For related article, see “NASA Prepares Atlantis Shuttle For $2 Million Transportation”.
g Learning - Here’s the ultimate Web site for an introduction to astrobiology. “Astrobiology: The Living Universe” is a comprehensive and educational guide to life on Earth and beyond. This site features sections on the chemical origin of life, evolution, planetary biology, the search for extraterrestrial life, supporting humans in space and exobiology. See article.
g Aftermath - When we first meet extraterrestrials, will we and they be able to converse? An MIT professor argues that we will — provided they are motivated to cooperate — because we'll both think similar ways. See article. Note: This article is from 1985.

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Wet Mars and societal implications of astrobiology

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - New research shows that perchlorate salts at the Phoenix landing site could allow liquid to persist under the current temperatures and pressures found at the surface of Mars. The possibility of stable liquid at Mars' surface raises interesting questions about the potential for life on the red planet. See article.
g Cosmicus - The space shuttle Atlantis brought its crew of seven astronauts safely back to Earth on Sunday, ending a 13-day mission to repair and enhance the Hubble Space Telescope. See article.
g Aftermath - What are the societal implications of astrobiology? A NASA workshop in 1999 set out to determine what they might be. Here’s their report. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

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Wet and windy Mars and new NASA leader

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The team behind NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers has released new results from the two years that Opportunity spent exploring Victoria Crater. Opportunity's instruments have revealed more evidence for a windy and wet past on Mars. The findings further our understanding of the habitability of ancient Mars. See article.
g Cosmicus - The White House announced on Saturday the nomination of Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former space shuttle astronaut and retired Marine general, to head the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. See article.
g Aftermath - Quote of the Day: “The diversity which some people are so quick to see among human populations is going to dwindle overnight. So in a very real sense, I think that the receipt of an interstellar radio message will make all of mankind brothers and sisters.” – Carl Sagan

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Early bombardment boosted life and what would you say to ET?

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - NASA-funded study indicates that an intense asteroid bombardment nearly 4 billion years ago may not have sterilized the early Earth as completely as previously thought. The asteroids, some the size of Kansas, possibly even provided a boost for early life. See article.
g Message - For nearly fifty years, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has used radio telescopes to scan the heavens for signs of alien technology. But scientists still do not agree about whether we should reply to an extraterrestrial signal, and if we do, what we should say. To help answer these questions, the SETI Institute has launched Earth Speaks, a research project to collect messages online from people around the world. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a great book for fourth- through sixth-grade kids: “Is Anybody Out There?” by Heather Couper, Nigel Henbest and Luciano Corbella. Of the book, one reviewer wrote: “Does intelligent life exist beyond our planet? This visually exciting examination looks at both the myth and the science related to the question. The authors, both British science writers, describe what alien lifeforms might look like, how we might communicate with them, and the impact the discovery of extrasolar planets has had on the development of scientific equipment. The book is organized into 17 appealing photo-spreads, comprising color photographs, detailed captions and boxed insets that contain information about a scientist or about a historic scientific event, or suggested activities for would-be scientists. The inclusion of a "count the alien civilizations" foldout board game is a bonus.”
g Aftermath - Quote of the Day: “It is not a question of whether we are emotionally prepared in the long run to confront a message from the stars. It is whether we can develop a sense that beings with quite different evolutionary histories, beings who may look far different from us, even "monstrous," may, nevertheless, be worthy of friendship and reverence, brotherhood and trust. We have far to go; while there is every sign that the human community is moving in this direction, the question is, are we moving fast enough?” – Carl Sagan

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Martian antifreeze and 600 million years for life

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Even if an early Mars never got above freezing, the brine on its surface could have stayed liquid and supported life, a new study says. See article.
g Life - According to a Nature paper that's receiving some pickup (Reuters, CSM ) the history of life on earth may just have got roughly 15% longer. That may not sound a huge difference, but a 15% extension on life's lease adds up to 600 million years -- roughly equivalent to the time taken for animals to get from creepy little things that couldn’t even crawl to your pet cat. See article.
g Cosmicus - In a project designed to help NASA plan for a future mission to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa, researchers have begun testing an autonomous underwater vehicle, known as ENDURANCE, in the ice-covered waters of Antarctica’s Lake Bonney. The biggest problem they’ve run into so far? Bubbles. See article.

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Comet composition and an extraterrestrial’s legal rights

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - By studying sun-like stars, astronomers may have solved a mystery about the composition of comets. The study provides new insight into the processes behind planet and comet formation. See article.
g Cosmicus - Nearly 40 years after Americans first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969 with NASA's historic Apollo 11 flight, a host of private rocketeers are hoping to follow to win a $30 million prize. Here, SPACE.com looks at Team FREDNET, one of 17 teams competing in the Google Lunar X Prize. See article.
g Aftermath - When an alien lands on the White House lawn, who should greet him (her? it?): Someone from the Immigration and Naturalization Service or someone from the Fish and Wildlife Commission? What legal rights would an extraterrestrial have? See article. Note: This article is from 1977, but the issue has been thought about very little.

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Super-strong crust of neutrino stars and what Mount Everest might tell us about life on other worlds

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - The crust of neutron stars could be 10 billion times stronger than steel, based on an innovative model of elements compressed as tightly as they would be on the surface of a neutron star. See article.
g Abodes - Searching for signs of life on Mount Everest could provide a window into the extreme environments that organisms might inhabit elsewhere in the universe. See article.
g Cosmicus - In order for NASA to send astronauts to the moon on long duration missions, new technologies are needed to protect human explorers from the harsh environment of space. One of the most dangerous aspects of the trip will be exposure to DNA-damaging radiation. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat set of lessons, designed for at-risk students: “The Plausibility of Interstellar Communication and Related Phenomena Depicted in Science Fiction Literature and the Movies.” The curriculum has four major objectives: first, to educate students to develop concepts about the proximity of our solar system in relation to other probable solar systems in the Milky Way Galaxy; second, to give students the opportunity to use these concepts to evaluate the plausibility of interstellar communication depicted in science fiction literature and movies; third, to create an opportunity for students not only to look out on the universe but to turn it inward to look at the world, their own society, and themselves as individuals; and fourth, an objective that will be integrated with all of the others is to give students to opportunity to learn and/or sharpen skills in: using the scientific method, research, reading, writing, collaboration, discussion and in critical thinking. See article.

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Meteorites tell early history of solar system and ESA launches pair of observatories

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - A group of Swiss geologists, who have conducted systematic meteorite searches in Oman since 2001, recently returned from their latest hunt. Their findings could provide valuable information about the early history of the solar system. See article.
g Cosmicus - The European Space Agency has successfully launched two new observatories. The Herschel and Planck missions are now set to conduct a number of scientific studies important to astrobiology, including the study of objects in our solar system's Kuiper belt and the search for water in remote areas of the Universe. See article.
g Learning - Here’s something neat for kids: Ask an Astrobiologist: NASA's Astrobiology Institute Web site lists on-line questions and responses on astrobiology; gives profiles of eminent astrobiologists. See article.

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Comets carry life’s key ingredients and ‘After Contact’

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Scientists studying the chemical composition of comets have determined that they contain missing ingredients needed for life on the primordial Earth. The study lends weight to the idea that cometary impacts played an important role in the origin of life. See article.
g Cosmicus - As the president prepares to name a new NASA head, the agency is using Twitter to shape its reputation with contributions from astronauts and others. See article.
g Imagining - The secrets of the universe remain a mystery to us, but that doesn’t stop us from making guesses. An author who writes a science fiction novel tries to base it around the technology and knowledge that we have available to us. Those tidbits of knowledge are then exaggerated to great lengths, and then set into the future, on other planets, in other dimensions in time, or under new variants of scientific law. This process is called extrapolation, and becomes the premise of the story. Here’s a Web site that works in reverse, by taking the scientific aspects from classic works of science fiction and explaining how they relate to astrobiology.
g Aftermath - Here’s an interesting book for some astrobiological reading: “After Contact: The Human Response to Extraterrestrial Life” by Albert A. Harrison. See reviews.

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Detecting biosignatures around exoplanets and leading candidate to run NASA

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Signs of life on planets beyond our own solar system may soon be in our sights. Experiments and calculations presented at an astrobiology meeting last week reveal how the coming generation of space telescopes will for the first time be capable of detecting "biosignatures" in the light from planets orbiting other stars. See article.
g Cosmicus - Charles F. Bolden Jr., a former space shuttle astronaut and retired Marine major general, is the leading candidate for nomination as the next administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. See article.
g Imagining - Here’s the indispensable book on science fiction aliens: “Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials: Great Aliens from Science Fiction Literature”. Having been out a few years now, it may not be on your local bookstore’s shelves.

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Finding life in our own solar system and polar dinosaurs

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Daniel P. Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, says the possibility of extraterrestrial life in our solar system is not limited to Mars; other "habitable" worlds might exist including the icy Moons of Jupiter and Saturn, known as Europa and Enceladus. The challenge for scientists and engineers in the next couple of decades, he says, will be to design miniaturized instruments and technologies capable of detecting the signatures of life in our own solar system and beyond. See article.
g Life - Large, carnivorous dinosaurs roamed southern Australia 115 million years ago, when the continent was joined to the Antarctica, and were padded with body fat to survive temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's Spirit rover is on slippery ground. The rover's five working wheels have been slipping in soft soil, causing them to sink into the ground. It may be weeks before Spirit attempts to drive again, but in the meantime the rover will use its scientific instruments to study the properties of the troublesome soil. See article.

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Astro-comb and we can visit Mars if we want to

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Researchers have developed a new technique to detect small, extrasolar planets that are more Earth-like than the majority of planets discovered thus far. They call it the "astro-comb", and it could help astrobiologists in the search for distant, habitable worlds. See article.
g Life - Synthetic biology and microbial insights will soon allow scientists to custom-build bacteria capable of surviving on other planets, says extremophile expert John Baross. See article.
g Cosmicus - When will humans visit Mars? Charles Cockell, a microbiologist who studies life in extreme environments, believes we have the necessary technology to go today if we really wanted to. See article.
g Aftermath - Here’s another “old” piece worth reading: “Consequences of Success in SETI: Lessons from the History of Science”, given during a Bioastronomy Symposium in 1993.

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Weird rocky exoplanets and the Herschel Space Observatory

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - At last we are finding rocky planets like our own. But some are pretty weird: The smallest may have a mineral-vapor atmosphere that condenses as lava rain or rock snow. See article.
g Life - Many of the organic molecules essential for life have been identified in space. Set to launch this month, the Herschel Space Observatory could help astronomers better characterize these molecules and determine whether or not these materials from space played a role in the origin of life on our planet. See article.
g Intelligence - Researchers who reverse-engineered an ancient superglue have found that Stone Age people were smarter than we thought. See article.

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Habitable zones and how close we are to answering the ET question

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - A variety of new findings point to the "habitable zones" where we're likely to find extraterrestrials. See article.
g Life - After two decades of planet searching, Alan Boss has written a book about how far we have come and how close we are to answering the question of whether we are alone in the universe. See article.
g Aftermath - A SETI detection will have important consequences for society. So at the International Astronautics Federation’s annual get-together in Rio de Janeiro a few years ago, Hungarian astronomer Ivan Almar and SETI Institute researcher Jill Tarter proposed the Rio Scale for ranking both the importance and credibility of claims that evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence has been found. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.

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Oxygen blamed for first ice age and two-thirds of adults think ETI exist

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Scientists have determined that the rise of oxygen on Earth may have caused the planet's first ice age. The research team believes that rising oxygen levels could have consumed atmospheric greenhouse gases, ultimately cooling the entire planet and profoundly influencing the evolution of life. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site that links to sites offering K-12 instructional materials on space exploration astrobiology.
g Imagining - During the past several years, evolutionary biologists have proved that the disparate creatures of our planet are, at a fundamental genetic level, very similar to one another. The genes that differentiate the top and the bottom of a bug, for instance, are the same ones that differentiate our fronts from our backs. According to the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould, this new understanding is among "the most stunning evolutionary discoveries of the decade," and is clearly "a dominant theme in evolution." The same law applies, it appears, to the extraterrestrial creatures that come out of Hollywood. See article. Note: This article is from 1997.
g Aftermath - Two-thirds of adults think there are other forms of intelligent life in the universe, according to a recent Roper poll. This belief tends to be more prevalent among males, adults ages 64 or younger, and residents of the Northeast as opposed to North Central and South. See article.

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The Medea Hypothesis and Sptizer nears end of its primary missions

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - In "The Medea Hypothesis," author and University of Washington professor Peter Ward presents an alternative to the "good mother earth" Gaia hypothesis — that life on Earth is inherently predatory and self-destructive. See article.
g Intelligence - Free will, or at least the place where we decide to act, is sited in a part of the brain called the parietal cortex, new research suggests. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's Spizter Space Telescope is about to finish its primary missions after more than five and a half years. Spitzer has made many important discoveries, from studying galaxies to direct observations of extrasolar planets. Although its primary mission is over, Spitzer will continue to return valuable data for astrobiologists here on Earth. See article.
g Imagining - The students of Prof. Joan Slonczewski, who taught “Biology 103: Biology in Science Fiction” at Kenyon College in 2003, using astrobiological principles, attempted to create a number of plausible alien civilizations and worlds as a class project. Here’s one about the life in the ecosystem of planet Ralinius. See article.

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More than one moon and exposing biomolecules to rigors of space

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - The prevailing theory about the formation of the moon is called the giant impact hypothesis: the theory goes that a Mars-sized object, known as Theia, crashed in to the young Earth. What left was Earth, and its moon. A new computer model suggests, however, that the Moon may not have been the only reminder of that big collision. See article.
g Life - Scientists have previously exposed organisms and biomolecules to the many rigors of space, but those experiments only managed to take "before" and "after" pictures of their samples. A planned small satellite will monitor on a continuous basis the negative effects of space on biology. See article.
g Cosmicus - As NASA prepares for its final service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, it's also preparing for something never attempted in the history of the shuttle program: a rescue operation so dramatic that Hollywood would be hard-pressed to come up with a more outlandish plot. See article.

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How life can thrive under extreme conditions and could the Alien be real?

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Scientists have been studying a unique undersea volcano that appears to be continuously active and supports unique biological communities. The site, dubbed NW Rota-1, is located near the Island of Guam and is helping astrobiologists understand how life can thrive under extreme conditions in the depths of the oceans. See article.
g Life - By studying how mussels adapt to acidic waters near underwater volcanoes, scientists are gaining a better understanding of how climate change could affect the ecology of Earth's oceans. Increasing carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere is leading to acidic water in the oceans, which could result in dramatic consequences for life as we know it. See article.
g Imagining - In Ridley Scott's 1979 slimy monster masterpiece "Alien," the extraterrestrial life form discovered by Sigourney Weaver and crew goes through two startlingly different phases after it hatches. Is such a change during the life of an animal mere sci fi license? Not really. In fact, many earthlings go through similar drastic changes in form. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.

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Orange stars best for life and finding moons around extrasolar planets

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - The universe's best real estate for life may be around stars a little less massive than the sun, called orange dwarfs, according to a new analysis. These stars live much longer than sun-like stars, and have safer habitable zones – where liquid water can exist – than those of lighter red dwarf stars. See article.
g Abodes - Finding moons around extrasolar planets is an invigorating quest. After all, at least three moons around gas giants right here in our own system — Europa, Enceladus and Titan — are considered of high astrobiological interest. What about gas giants in the habitable zone of some distant star? See article.
g Life - Scientists have discovered an ancient protein preserved in the 80 million-year-old bones of a dinosaur. The protein will provide scientists with a truly unique look into the evolutionary history of life on our planet. See article.

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Habitable moons around gas giants and looking for alien signals in all the wrong places

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Stars - Do rogue black holes wander through the distant outskirts of the Milky Way? A new theory suggests one way to find out: Look for small clusters of stars that should accompany such objects. See article.
g Abodes - Moons of giant planets may represent an alternative to the classical picture of habitable worlds. See article.
g Life - A Tyrannosaurus rex ancestor and an ostrich-mimic have emerged as two new dinosaur species found among a treasure trove of skeletons in China's Gobi Desert. See article.
g Message - It's been almost 50 years since scientists first came up with the idea of looking for radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations - and although there have been a couple of curious blips, we haven't yet definitively heard E.T.'s cosmic call. Now the experts in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or SETI, are wondering whether we've been looking in the wrong places for the wrong kinds of signals. See article.
g Cosmicus - With an eye on increasing the number of students interested in science, technology and engineering degrees, the Universities Space Research Administration has secured $10 million from NASA to manage, enhance, and expand the Education Associates Program. See article.
g Aftermath - If we encountered an intelligent species on another planet, could we understand them? In turn, could extrasolar species decipher one of our 8,000 terrestrial languages in use today? See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

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Questions discussed at Origins and a new NASA-ESA alliance

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - A fossil of a primitive "walking seal" with four legs and webbed feet has been found in the Canadian Arctic and dated to be at least 20 million years old. See article.
g Intelligence - How did the universe begin? How did life begin? Is there intelligent life beyond Earth, or are we alone in the cosmos? These were some of the questions addressed at a remarkable symposium titled “Origins,” when distinguished scientists from a broad spectrum of disciplines gathered in Phoenix in early April. See article.
g Message - The structure of terrestrial music might provide clues to creating interstellar messages that could be understood by extraterrestrial intelligence. In the process, he suggests that music may provide a means of communicating "something of our consciousness that is essentially human, regardless of the civilization from which it emerges." See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Learning - NASA has selected two science investigations that will forge new alliances between NASA and the European Space Agency. The projects will also advance our knowledge of terrestrial planets in our solar system. Collaboration on the ExoMars mission in particular is set to help astrobiologists understand whether or not Mars was once habitable for life. See article.

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Mars and Earth analogies and creating interstellar messages that can be understood

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - In this podcast, host Simon Mitton investigates experiments being conducted at the University of Arkansas Center for Space and Planetary Science – experiments that show similarities between Mars and Earth.
g Life - Scientists have found a diverse stash of dinosaur fossils laid down just a few million years before the big impact, along what's now the Kakanaut River of northeastern Russia. Even accounting for continental drift, the dinos lived at more than 70 degrees of latitude north, well above the Arctic Circle. See article.
g Intelligence - Our ancient human ancestors traded in the ability to climb trees for the power to walk on two legs, but it is unclear when this happened in evolutionary time. See article.
g Message - To create interstellar messages that have a realistic chance of being understood across interstellar distances, we need to identify some information shared by humans and extraterrestrials. We need to identify a foundation for establishing a universal language that will let us bridge the gap between our world and theirs, all without the convenience of face-to-face contact. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.

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Earthquakes plus asbestos equals life and the press when contact is made with ETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Earthquakes and asbestos may seem an unlikely alliance to help life evolve on early Earth, yet they could have done just that. See article.
g Intelligence - Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study suggests. See article.
g Aftermath - How will the press handle the announcement that we’ve made contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence? See article.

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Fascinating discoveries about Mercury and ‘shadow’ life forms on Earth

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - NASA's Messenger spacecraft has returned fascinated observations from the tiny planet next to the sun, including the discovery of magnesium in Mercury's atmosphere. The data also shows that Mercury's geological past was much more active than scientists previously believed. The findings could help astrobiologists understand the formation and evolution of rocky planets. See article.
g Life - Because of our planet’s primordial molecular complexity, there’s a good chance “shadow” life forms exist on Earth today. But where? See article.
g Intelligence - A genetic map of Africa - the continent from which all modern humans originate - has provided information about its huge diversity of language and culture. See article.

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Making molecules follow the laws of evolution and communicating with ET

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Life - Scientists have discovered a way to make molecules evolve and compete according to the laws of Darwinian evolution. The results of their research shed light on how life can evolve at the molecular level and may provide clues about how life on Earth originated from simple molecules. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field offered buyouts to nearly 500 employees last week, officials confirmed Thursday. See article.
g Aftermath - Douglas Vakoch is one of a relatively small collection of scientists addressing the question of how to talk back to extraterrestrials. While most researchers involved in the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence come from physics and engineering backgrounds, Vakoch draws on a background in linguistics, sociology and psychology to explore SETI-related issues. Here’s an interview with him from Aug. 2003 about communicating with ET.

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Exploring Mars’ moons and Frank Drake reassesses the odds of finding ETI

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - Mars has two tiny asteroid-like moons, Phobos and Deimos. The moons have not been the focus of Mars studies, but there are several missions in the planning stages that aim to change that. See article.
g Life - Coral-like mounds on the floor of a Canadian lake may make it easier someday to identify life on other planets. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.
g Message - If you'd asked 20 years ago the question he's heard over and over - whether humanity will discover extraterrestrial intelligence in his lifetime - Frank Drake would have shrugged and said, "sure." Today, the renowned astronomer, who turns 79 next month, admits the chances are slimming. See article.
g Aftermath - Humanity’s foray into the solar system brings out the ethical issue of what we should do if life is found in outer space. Do we send more probes to further investigate and do we have a responsibility to protect that life and allow it to develop naturally? See article. Note: This article is from 2007.

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