Coolest ever brown dwarf found and modifying the Drake Equation

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 - Astronomers have discovered a brown dwarf that is the coolest sub-stellar body ever found outside our solar system. Astrobiologists study brown dwarfs in order to learn more about stars and star formation. Ultimately, this will help us determine the best places to search for extrasolar planets. See article.
g Message - Should we modify the Drake Equation to account for civilizations which actually engage in deliberate interstellar transmission? See article.
g Cosmicus - In light of the risks, is space exploration really worth it? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Aftermath - In the last quarter of the 20th century, an international social movement — Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence — has emerged which advocates an attempt to achieve communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, and many of its most active members have been leading scientists. Modest efforts to detect radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrials already have been made, both under government aegis and privately funded, and the technical means for a more vigorous search have been developed. If a CETI project were successful, linguists would suddenly have one or more utterly alien languages to study, and some consideration of linguistic issues is a necessary preparation for it. See paper.

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How to tell the world we’re not alone and deciding what to take pictures of on Mars

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 - Quartz-rich deposits that formed below the upper temperature limit of life could preserve chemical and morphological fossil records if life emerged on Mars. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is now taking suggestions from the public on which sights to photograph on the Martian surface. MRO has returned an immense amount of data for astrobiologists trying to understand the past habitability of Mars, and now members of the public have a chance to participate in further exploration of the red planet. See article.
g Learning - Over and over again at a recent science conference, teachers remarked that their students are always asking about SETI and astronomy. Kids have a keen interest in astronomy, space sciences, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. What's out there? Are we alone? See article.
g Imagining - While I’m researching our next alien, browse the local used bookstores for this volume, which examined the scientific plausibility of many alien creatures in “Star Trek”: “To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek.” Published a few years ago, Athena Andreadis' book makes a good read, boosted by her background as a molecular biologist and neurosurgeon. See review.
g Aftermath - R = Q x - Astronomer Ivan Almar suggests the brief formula above might help scientists decide how to tell the world that we are not alone in the universe. See article.

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Replicating Titan on earth and should we start transmitting interstellar greetings?

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 project aims to replicate the surface on the moon Titan in order to learn more about its hydrocarbon lakes. This study could also tell us about the chemistry that led to the origin of life on early Earth. See article.
g Message - At the Astrobiology Science Conference 2010 in April, scientists working on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) will debate whether it's a good idea to systematically start transmitting interstellar greetings into space. See article.
g Cosmicus - While social-media mavens and space buffs thrilled to the first Tweets from outer space last week, NASA was working on the kind of network improvements that will be necessary if astronauts are to use any online tools more demanding than Twitter. See article.
g Learning - "Teacher, why do I need to learn this?" "Whats it good for?" Students ask these questions when faced with content that seems unrelated to their lives. Motivating students is fundamental to promoting achievement in any classroom, even in science, which encompasses the entire natural world, the whole universe. Good questions and quality experiences support science learning for all students, not just those who are already science-friendly. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Aftermath - High-tech telescopes on the ground and in space that perform daunting astronomical peep shows in a search for Earth-like worlds aim to answer one of humankind's most monumental questions: “Are we alone?” There is on-going deliberation relating to the societal, philosophical and religious fallout that stems from resolving such a stellar inquiry. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.

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Recognizing aliens and Spirit rover stuck in sand trap

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 - If aliens do exist in the Goldilocks zones of outer space, we still may not recognize them. See article.
g Intelligence - We don’t know, but there could be thousands, and possibly millions, of Earth-like planets studding the dark latitudes of the Milky Way. Our Galaxy could be thick with worlds that host not just life, but intelligence. In this putative club of sentients, is it possible that we are the newest arrivals? See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Message - If extraterrestrials are out there, signals that would prove their existence are cascading over your body right now. Needless to say, you don’t notice. The challenge for SETI researchers is to build an instrument that will. Rising to the challenge, the SETI Institute and others are developing new search strategies and telescopes, encouraging some scientists to speculate that a signal detection will occur in the next decade or two. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.
g Cosmicus - NASA has now designated the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, a 'stationary science platform'. For months, the rover has been unable to free itself from a sand trap on Mars. Although Spirit is now immobile, the rover will continue to perform scientific studies that will help astrobiologists understand the past environment of Mars. See article.
g Imagining - In nearly all popular science fiction dramatizations on television, most of the alien protagonists look remarkably like humans. In "Star Trek," if you forgave the Vulcan's their ears (and their hair-styles), the Klingons their foreheads and the Bajorans their ridged noses you'd think that they were all human. After all, they have two legs, two arms, 10 fingers and toes, two ears, two eyes and a nose. And while arms and eyes are universals, two arms and two legs are parochial. See article.
g Aftermath - Scientists searching for alien life should get governments and the UN involved lest we unwittingly contact hostile extraterrestrials, a British astronomer has warned. See article.

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Video game astrobiology and will we get more than we bargained for if trying to contact 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 - Scientists have attributed the different surfaces and interior states of Jupiter's moons Ganymede and Callisto to cometary impacts that occurred some 3.8 billion years ago. The study in comparative planetology shows how influences from space can shape the formation of celestial bodies. See article.
g Message - Some scientists want to send signals into space in search of aliens but others warn we may get more than we bargained for. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA's current mission in orbit around the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has been providing crucial insights about our nearest celestial neighbor since its launch in June. See article. Note: This article is from Dec. 2009.
g Imagining - Electronic Arts’ video game Spore is based on serious scientific research that is out of this world. Literally. The game, which incubated for five years in the studios of the world’s leading developer of video games, takes much of its inspiration from the real-world research of the SETI Institute, an organization dedicated to the deep scientific understanding of life in all its forms on Earth and to exploration of the cosmos for evidence of life, especially intelligent life. See article. Note: his article is from 2008.
g Aftermath - Looking for some interesting reading on “first contact”? Try the science fiction anthology “First Contact,” edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Larry Segriff. The book came out in 1997. Here’s a review (though it’s less than flattering).

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Looking for proof of ET on Earth and what does it mean to be intelligent?

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 - Professor Paul Davies, a physicist at Arizona University will tell a meeting at the Royal Society that the best way of proving that extra-terrestrial life exists elsewhere in the universe is to use evidence from earth. See article.
g Intelligence - What does it mean to be intelligent? What defines a species as intelligent, and how do SETI researchers decide? See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Message - For years scientists have wrestled with a puzzling fact: The universe appears to be remarkably suited for life. Its physical properties are finely tuned to permit our existence. Stars, planets and the kind of sticky chemistry that produces fish, ferns and folks wouldn't be possible if some of the cosmic constants were only slightly different. Well, there's another property of the universe that's equally noteworthy: It's set up in a way that keeps everyone isolated. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Cosmicus - NASA’s IceBite team are studying one of the few spots on Earth where the terrain resembles that of the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s Dry Valleys. The goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for a future Mars missions. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity: “Designer Genes for a Designer World”. In this series of guided inquiry activities, students explore how organisms adapt to their environments through changes in their genetic codes.

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Analogues of the first Martian environments and the next decade of human space exploration

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 - Until space agencies will be able to develop the necessary technology to put people in a permanent outpost on the Red Planet, scientists have no chance of analyzing the Martian environment first-hand. Undoubtedly, if one were to investigate the rocks, river beds, deltas and craters on our neighboring planet, many of its mysteries would be revealed, but rovers, landers and orbiters cannot send too much information about the most interesting aspects of Mars. So, for now, researchers stick to analyzing the analogues of the first Martian environments, right here on Earth. See article.
g Message - Want to help SETI discover alien life? If you haven’t already done so, download the free SETI at Home software. Using Internet-connected computers, the program downloads and analyzes radio telescope data on your desktop when it is idle. The program has been so successful in plowing through data that other scientific researchers, especially in medicine, are adopting it to their fields.
g Cosmicus - As we look to the next decade, what sort of human space exploration will we see? See article.
g Learning - If you’re a high school student interested in a career as an astrobiologist, what can you did in school to put yourself on the right track? See article.
g Imagining - Skull Island’s commendably diverse population (of “King Kong” fame) isn’t very realistic. In such isolated habitats, competition among species is limited. The consequence is that, with time, predator species tend to get smaller while prey species grow larger. The optimum size (at least for mammals) seems to be roughly that of a rabbit. Kong is bigger than many rabbits. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.

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Space chemicals leading to life and public excited by astrobiology-oriented film

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 first microbiological survey of Mars analog lakes in Western Australia is offering new evidence of the diverse life that could have once thrived on Mars. See article.
g Life - The landscape could be the backdrop of a post­apocalyptic film. It’s an environment of extremes, blasted by intense radiation, fierce winds and shock waves from violent explosions. Yet within this desolation, species persist. Not only are there ordinary, familiar faces, there is also, evidence suggests, a motley crew: galactic gangs that would make Mad Max cringe. Some are decked out in metal; others are radicals itching to react, amped up with positive and, new research shows, even negative charge. See article.
g Message - SETI researchers are a bold lot. They’ve chosen to accept a mission that might dissuade Mr. Phelps. Year after year, they spin their telescopes to the sky, sifting through a broiling rumpus of cosmic static in hopes of finding a signal made by other beings. But how will they know? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - James Cameron's "Avatar" has continued to break box office records, has won the Golden Globe Awards for "best picture" and "best director", and is now headed for the Oscars. There is clearly something that the public enjoys about "Avatar". At a time when NASA needs to re-exert its relevance to decision makers and the public, you'd think that there would be some effort to tap this interest in a movie about the wonders of extrasolar planets, astrobiology, and what may lay out there as we explore space - rendered in unparalleled detail and believability. So, how did NASA capitalize on this phenomenon? Answer: It didn't. See article.
g Learning - A study of Greek school children indicates that spatial knowledge lies at the root of how youngsters conceptualize time. See article.

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Would ETI be aggressive and can we listen to aliens by turning on the radio?

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 asteroid that crashed in northern Sudan last year was shaped like a loaf of walnut-raisin bread, according to astronomer Peter Scheirich and colleagues at Ondrejov Observatory and Charles University in the Czech Republic. See article.
g Life - Following in a giant dinosaur's footsteps could be fatal—but not for the reasons you might suspect. See article.
g Message - For more than 80 years, we’ve been sending radio (and eventually television) transmissions into space, allowing anyone in space to hear war reports from London, “I Love Lucy” reruns and our latest election results. So wouldn’t hearing aliens be as simple as turning on the radio? Here’s why not. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - India has launched a fleet of small suborbital rockets to study the effects of last week’s stunning solar eclipse – touted as the longest this millennium - on Earth's atmosphere. See article.
g Learning - Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, feature a recent essay by Jim Hansen of NASA GISS. In this essay, he describes his frustration with the media’s approach to the climate controversy. See article.
g Imagining - Films often suggest that the galaxy is largely populated by highly aggressive species, ones whose interest in Earth might extend no farther than using it now and again as a hunting lodge. But would ETI really be that way? See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

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Planet formation a natural by-product of star formation and aliens beaming signals at one another

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 - A new study has confirmed that planet formation is a natural by-product of star formation, even around stars that are much larger than the Sun. However, it is not likely that planets around large stars could support complex forms of life. See article.
g Abodes - Our knowledge of Titan has improved considerably over the last five years. Before that, Saturn's largest satellite had only been hastily approached by a handful of space probes. See article.
g Life - By studying how alligators breathe, scientists have drawn new connections between the reptiles and modern birds. Their breathing method may have helped the dinosaurs' ancestors dominate the planet after one of Earth's worst mass extinctions. See article.
g Message - However, since the invention of the radio, humans have been broadcasting signals into outer space. Other civilizations in our galaxy might be doing the same. They might even be deliberately sending out signals to find other civilizations. Someone out there may even be beaming a signal directly at the Earth. See article.
g Cosmicus - A group of 13 scientists hoping to perform experiments on suborbital spaceships took a dizzying spin in a centrifuge this week in the first-ever commercial training session targeted at civilian researchers. See article.

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Messages to ETI aboard Kepler and exploring mars via Antarctica

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 - Could our solar system’s gas giants combine to make a second star? See article.
g Abodes - NASA’s IceBite team are studying a spot on Earth where the terrain resembles that of the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for a future mission to Mars. Click the Ask a Scientist button above to ask the team questions. See article.
g Life - Millions of years ago a group of wasps "decided to" become vegetarians and so today we have the bee. Some of their cousins "decided to" quit flying and so became the ants, but that is another story. Although only about 20% of bees are social, honey bees are very social indeed. It has been stated by several biologists that, if it were not for the honey bee pollinating plants, humans would only last 3 or 4 years as our food supply would disappear. See article. Note: This article is from 2009.
g Message - Although the main payload onboard the Kepler spacecraft consists of instruments to detect other worlds, a second package reminds anyone who may intercept the craft millennia from now of the hopes of the generation that launched it. Over a six-month period, tens of thousands of people submitted messages explaining why they thought the Kepler mission is important. These were gathered onto a DVD and attached to the spacecraft. See article. Note: This article is from 2009.
g Cosmicus - NASA has slashed its multi-million dollar price tag for museums looking to acquire one of its three space shuttle orbiters after they are retired later this year. The due date for the reduced payment, which dropped by almost one-third, was also advanced to be six months earlier than previously announced. See article.
g Aftermath - Freelance writer Mark Pendergrast examines the folly of the Anthropic Principle in a 2005 newspaper op-ed. See article.

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Mysterious ribbon at edge of solar system and why doesn’t ETI come here and kill us?

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 - A mysterious ribbon spotted on the edge of the solar system has turned out to be a reflection of particles streaming off the sun, scientists have found. See article.
g Abodes - Blobs of warm ice that periodically rise to the surface and churn the icy crust on Saturn's moon Enceladus explain the quirky heat behavior and intriguing surface of the moon's south polar region, according to a new paper using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. See article.
g Life - How does life begin and evolve? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? What is the future of life on Earth and beyond? Today, NASA's Astrobiology Institute (NAI) is not only asking these age-old questions, it is actively seeking answers. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Message - Book alert: In response to Enrico Fermi's famous 1950 question concerning the existence of advanced civilizations elsewhere, physicist Stephen Webb in “If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life” critically examines 50 resolutions to explain the total absence of empirical evidence for probes, starships, and communications from extraterrestrials. He focuses on our Milky Way Galaxy, which to date has yielded no objects or signals that indicate the existence of alien beings with intelligence and technology. His comprehensive analysis covers topics ranging from the Drake equation and Dyson spheres to the panspermia hypothesis and anthropic arguments. Of special interest are the discussions on the DNA molecule, the origin of life on Earth, and the threats to organic evolution on this planet (including mass extinctions). Webb himself concludes that the "great silence" in nature probably results from humankind's being the only civilization now in this galaxy, if not in the entire universe. This richly informative and very engaging book is recommended for most academic and public library science collections. See reviews.
g Cosmicus - The first wealthy tourists rocketing into space from Florida may start their trips in Jacksonville, not the Space Coast. See article.
g Learning - The SETI Institute regularly invites Explorers of the Universe to a weekly lecture held in Mountain View in northern California. Each talk is delivered by leading scientists and engineers in their field of expertise, and each topic is easily introduced for the uninitiated. See article.
g Aftermath - During the last hundred years, Homo sapiens has been flamboyantly belching clues into space that could alert technically savvy extraterrestrials of our presence. Radar and television, odd chemical compounds in the atmosphere, and even the occasional spacecraft sent beyond the heliopause are all messages in bottles that could conceivably wash up on the shores of ET’s planet. So why don’t they come here and kill us? See article. Note: This article is from 2008.

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Chemical fingerprint of an extrasolar planet and origin of life no longer a ‘mystery’

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 a triple planetary system, astronomers have obtained the “chemical fingerprint” of an extrasolar planet. This is the first time the spectrum of an exoplanet orbiting a normal, almost Sun-like star has been obtained directly. The data represents a new milestone in the search for habitable planets beyond our own solar system. See article.
g Life - The origin of life should be traced beyond the bracketed knowledge as the mystery of life may be resolved through astrobiology, said Nalin Chandra Wikramsinghe, director of the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology, Cardiff University, UK, on Saturday. See article.
g Message - What are the chances that an alien signal has been sent our way just at the right moment to splash upon our antennas during that brief interval? If the extraterrestrials beam their broadcasts to the whole galaxy (or at least a big chunk of it), the chances are 100 percent. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.
g Learning - The SETI Institute has created an “Adopt a Scientist Program.” Among the scientists is the father of SETI, Frank Drake.
g Imagining - Many science fiction story lines involve alien life forms. From a literary prospective, aliens often serve as metaphors for something more familiar. From a practical prospective, they make stories more interesting and TV more eye-catching. But what of scientific accuracy? A professor offers his advice about “How to Build an Alien”.
g Aftermath - Within the scientific community, the question is no longer whether extraterrestrial life exists, but if ET is smart enough to do long division — and the United States and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact. My apologies in advanced for Popular Mechanic’s lurid title, but the reporting is sound. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

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Life in other universes and how Earth-like planets survive their solar system’s birth

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 - Planets are thought to grow from swirling disks of dust and gas around stars. New simulations show how small planets like Earth can survive in these tumultuous environments instead of crashing into their host stars. The key is inward and outward migrations that trap the planets on orbits. See article.
g Life - Could our universe be just one among countess universes that emerged from the same primordial vacuum? And if so... could other universes be inhabited by life? In a recent article, theorists from Florida State University and the Weizmann Institute discussed these questions and the answers that physics may hold. See article.
g Message - The timescales of interstellar communication can be measured in two ways. First, we can compute them by the objective ticking of timepieces. Measuring time by a clock has the virtue of being objective and quantifiable, whether using a beloved old windup pocket watch or the latest atomic clock, accurate to one second in 20 million years. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Aftermath - Book alert: Beep, beep, bop, be-bop. These could represent a new song or a communication from intelligent species on another world. With discoveries of more and more planets circling far away suns, there seems an increasing possibility that we have fellow, smart occupants sharing this universe. Michael Michaud takes this consideration seriously in his book Contact with Alien Civilizations. In a very forwarding looking text, he puts sound reasoning into analyzing the issues about if and when we find we're not alone.

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We’ll know in a few months if there’s another Earth and why aliens will be more advanced than us

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 - Thanks to a NASA telescope currently scanning the skies as it orbits the Sun, we may be mere months from knowing that there are inhabitable Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy, said a NASA researcher and University at Albany professor. See article.
g Life - Contrary to a widely held scientific theory that the mammalian Y chromosome is slowly decaying or stagnating, new evidence suggests that in fact the Y is actually evolving quite rapidly through continuous, wholesale renovation. See article.
g Intelligence - Have you ever accidentally pulled your headphone socket out while listening to music? What happens when the music stops? Psychologists believe that our brains continuously predict what is going to happen next in a piece of music. So, when the music stops, your brain may still have expectations about what should happen next. See article.
g Message - In 2003, an international science team led by Alexander Zaitsev of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Richard Braastad of Team Encounter, broadcast scientific and personal messages in “Cosmic Call 2003” to five, Sun-like stars. Here’s a brief description of the preparation and implementation of CC-2003. See article.
g Cosmicus - Scientists in Texas are reporting the development of a "nanodragster" that may speed the course toward development of a new generation of futuristic molecular machines. The vehicle - only 1/50,000th the width of a human hair - resembles a hot-rod in shape and can outperform previous nano-sized vehicles. See article.
g Aftermath - Movie aliens are often like distant relatives: they resemble us in an unpleasant sort of way. This is hardly a surprise. Hollywood creates characters that audiences can identify with, and that’s why its aliens are so anthropomorphic (and why Donald Duck looks more like a human than a duck.)But appearances aside, cinema aliens have another implausible attribute: They’re nearly always at our level of technical sophistication. We frequently trade gunfire with them or chase them around in dogfights. This is silly, of course. Any beings capable of bridging the vast distances between the stars would be able to clean our clock when it comes to science and engineering. See article. Note: This article is from 2000.

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Five years on Titan and water on Mars 3 billion BCE

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 satellite images suggest that the surface of Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years ago. This period of time on Mars was previously thought to be too cold and arid for liquid water to persist. The data may have implications in determining the habitability of ancient Mars. See article.
g Message - While some scientists cautiously plan for ways to reply to extraterrestrial transmissions, others haven't waited for a signal to start talking. Sending messages from Earth into space to announce the existence of the human race is somewhat rare and controversial. Digital transmissions have been beamed into space from radio telescopes, and four spacecraft currently leaving the solar system bear messages for anyone who finds them. See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Cosmicus - Exactly five years ago today the European Space Agency's (ESA) Huygens Probe made history when it landed on Titan, the largest moon in the Saturnian system. The touchdown on the surface of Titan marked the first, and so far only, landing of a man-made probe in the outer Solar System. See article.

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Imagining the cosmos and what Martians might look like

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 IceBite team is studying a location on Earth where the terrain resembles that of the Phoenix landing site on Mars. The place: a mile above sea level in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys. The goal: to test ice-penetrating drills for future Mars mission. Click the 'Ask a Scientist' button to ask questions of the science team. See article.
g Life - In this interview, Nigel Mason explains how molecules formed in space might eventually lead to life, and describes what scientists are doing to better understand this process. See article. Note: This article is from 2008.
g Message - The idea and project of the 1st Theremin Concert for Aliens (stated in the Arecibo Proposal "One-Dimensional Radio Message for Blind Aliens" was not accepted by Arecibo reviewers because of their misgiving that such interstellar radio transmission may be a dangerous affair. See article.
g Cosmicus - Imagine the cosmos. What do you picture? A great void extending infinitely in all directions, sparsely dotted by stars, planets and other heavenly bodies, booby-trapped by black holes and traversed by light rays and magnetic fields? If you are a modern secularist that might be what you envision. See article.
g Learning - The Beginner's Guide to Rockets will help you learn the basic math and physics that govern the design and flight of rockets. See article.
g Imagining - What might life on Mars look like? Discover an ecosystem in “A Cold Dry Cradle”, a short story by Gregory Benford and Elizabeth Malarte, anthologized in “The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection”.

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Rocky exoplanet remains of gas giant and what life on Europa might look like

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 - Research indicates that the most Earth-like exoplanet yet found could be the rocky remains of a Saturn-sized gas giant. The study increases our knowledge of how planets form and evolve and could help astronomers better estimate the potential number of Earth-like planets in the universe. See article.
g Life - Final proof that Mars has bred life will be confirmed this year, leading NASA experts believe. The historic discovery will come not on Mars itself but from chunks of the red planet here on Earth. David McKay, chief of astrobiology at NASA's Johnson Space Centre in Houston, says powerful new microscopes and other instruments will establish whether features in Martian meteorites are alien fossils. See article.
g Learning - Students for the Exploration and Development of Space is an international student organization whose purpose is to promote space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects. See article.
g Imagining - What might life on Europa look like? Meet the Ventlings in “A Spy in Europa”, a short story by Alastair Reynolds.

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Recently discovered exoworld unbearably hot and interpreting alien message via anticryptography

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 meteors that rained down the early morning of Sept. 1, 2007, date from around 4 A.D., the latest calculations show. See article.
g Abodes - This past October, scientists confirmed the discovery of the first rocky planet outside our solar system. Now, astronomers have gathered further information about the planet, CoRoT-7 b. The distant world might experience surface temperatures of more than 2,200 degrees Celsius, rendering the surface uninhabitable. See article.
g Message - Interpreting any alien message likely will involve anticryptography. See article.
g Learning - The NASA Postdoctoral Program offers qualified postdoctoral scientists and engineers the opportunity to engage in ongoing NASA research and serves as a source of talent to ensure the continued quality of the NASA research workforce. These competitive one- to three-year fellowship appointments advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems and astrobiology. See article.

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Evolutionary potential linked to environment and the ‘Arecibo message’

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 - Astrobiology Magazine's climate blog, The Hot Zone, discusses a recent essay by Jim Hansen of NASA GISS. In the piece Hansen speaks of the increase in negative attitudes toward climate change and the need for a 'fighting spirit' if a future climate crisis is to be averted. See article.
g Life - Coral reefs aren't just beautiful and rich in species. They also have long served as an evolutionary wellspring for countless types of marine life, even groups such as clams and snails that researchers thought had originated in shallow coastal waters. That's the conclusion of a new examination of the fossil record, and the findings reinforce the idea that evolutionary potential is linked to the environment. See article.
g Message - In 1974, astronomers sent the "Arecibo message," a binary-coded signal that decodes to a graphic illustrating some basic characteristics of Earth. The message was intended more to demonstrate the power of the telescope than to contact distant civilizations. Cornell's 25th anniversary announcement includes a decoded explanation and more information about what the scientists were thinking. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.
g Learning - Every summer, NAI teams and others host hands-on, in-the-field, in-the-lab workshops for educators. The workshops feature cutting edge astrobiology research delivered by astrobiology scientists and education professionals, as well as inquiry- and standards-based activities ready for your classroom. See article.

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Just 15 % of galaxy’s solar systems like our own and the benefits of reading Franz Kafka

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 - A new study shows that just 15 percent of solar systems in the galaxy are like our own. The finding may have implications in the search for habitable worlds in the universe. See article.
g Abodes - Book review: “The Life and Death of Planet Earth: How the New Science of Astrobiology Charts the Ultimate Fate of Our World”, by Peter Ward and Don Brownlee, is the first real biography of the Earth - not only a brilliant portrait of the emergence and evolution of life on this planet, but a vivid and frightening look at Earth's remote future. Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee combine storytelling power with extreme scientific care, and their narrative is as transfixing as any of H.G. Wells' fantasies, but more enthralling, for Ward and Brownlee have real power to prognosticate. This is a book that makes one shiver, but also inspires one to wonder how humanity (if we survive in the short term) will fare in the distant future." Oliver Sachs Peter Ward and Don Brownlee, a geologist and an astronomer respectively, are in the vanguard of the new field of astrobiology. Combining their knowledge of the evolution of life on our planet with their understanding of the life cycles of stars and solar systems, the authors tell the awe-inspiring story of the second half of Earth's life. The process of planetary evolution will essentially reverse itself; life as we know it will subside until only the simplest forms remain. The oceans will evaporate, and as the sun slowly expands, Earth itself will eventually meet a fiery end.
g Message - 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.
g Learning - Reading a book by Franz Kafka –– or watching a film by director David Lynch – could make you smarter. See article.

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Ultra-blue galaxies discovered and gamma ray bursters key to discovering 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 Stars - NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has broken the distance limit for galaxies and uncovered a primordial population of compact and ultra-blue galaxies that have never been seen before. See article.
g Abodes - When scientists confirmed in October that they had detected the first rocky planet outside our solar system, it advanced the longtime quest to find an Earth-like planet hospitable to life. See article.
g Intelligence - Did our extinct Neanderthal cousins have an artistic bent, and did they interbreed with modern humans? Newly published research seems to support affirmative answers to both questions, but those answers are far from final. See article.
g Message - Regardless of what causes gamma-ray bursters, they could be the key to discovering life elsewhere in the universe. An astrophysicist says smart aliens might use the bursts to alert us to their messages. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.
g Learning - The International Year of Astronomy is ending, but the legacy of the last 12 months of celestial celebration will continue, under night skies and especially on the Internet. See article.

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Black hole rips apart massive star and ETI too far away

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 - New results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Magellan telescopes suggest that a dense stellar remnant has been ripped apart by a black hole a thousand times as massive as the Sun. See article.
g Abodes - Long thought to have no atmosphere, the Moon actually does have an extremely thin exosphere. See article.
g Message - The famous question posed by the physicist Enrico Fermi in 1950 remains unanswered. "Where is everybody?" he asked. If the galaxy is teeming with sophisticated aliens, we should have heard from them by now. A new response to the Fermi Paradox comes in a recent issue of the journal New Astronomy. The aliens, like the truth, may be out there - but perhaps are so far out that there's no hope of receiving even a text message. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.

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Best methods for exploring the Moon and are our messages too boring for 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 Stars - Solar physicists attempting to unlock the mysteries of the solar corona have found another piece of the puzzle by observing the sun's outer atmosphere during eclipses. See article.
g Abodes - Those seeking to understand and predict climate change can now use an additional tool to calculate carbon dioxide exchanges on land, according to a scientific journal article publishing this week. See article.
g Intelligence - DNA that is left in the remains of long-dead plants, animals, or humans allows a direct look into the history of evolution. So far, studies of this kind on ancestral members of our own species have been hampered by scientists' inability to distinguish the ancient DNA from modern-day human DNA contamination. See article.
g Message - Messages sent into space directed at extraterrestrials may have been too boring to earn a reply, say two astrophysicists trying to improve on their previous alien chat lines. See article.
g Cosmicus - As space agencies around the world gear up for a return of humans to the Moon, researchers are beginning to outline important scientific priorities. A new study at an impact crater in Canada is helping mission planners develop the most effective methods for exploring the lunar surface. See article.
g Imagining - Extraterrestrials could consist of living, breeding, floating clouds of interstellar dust, according to a study by an international team. See article.

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Martian lake and alien life as dancing specks of dust

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 - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has captured an action-packed picture of the nearby Small Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy that looks like a wispy cloud when seen from Earth. See article.
g Abodes - Spectacular satellite images suggest that Mars was warm enough to sustain lakes three billion years ago, a period that was previously thought to be too cold and arid to sustain water on the surface, according to research published in the journal Geology. See article.
g Life - Could alien life exist in the form of dancing specks of dust? According to a new simulation, electrically charged dust can organize itself into DNA-like double helixes that behave in many ways like living organisms, reproducing and passing on information to one another. See article. Note: This article is from 2007.
g Intelligence - A new study of chimpanzees living in the wild adds to evidence that our closest primate relatives have cultural differences, too. See article.
g Message - Earthlings could make contact with extraterrestrial beings by the year 2025, two astronomers predict. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has passed a key milestone crucial to producing the high-quality images that will be the trademark of this revolutionary new tool for astronomy. See article.
g Imagining - Alien life has been one of the staples of science fiction since the origins of the genre, and Star Trek, one of its best-known examples, has hardly shied away from it. Yet, while the line above—taken from a memorable (if annoying) parody of the original series—has been indelibly linked to the Star Trek franchise, it is hardly representative of the life forms seen in its various incarnations on the big and small screen. For every unusual alien, be it a vaporous cloud or the silicon-based Horta, Star Trek featured dozens, if not hundreds, of humanoid aliens, differing from humans only through some combination of forehead ridges, crumpled noses, or pointed ears (and almost all speaking flawless English, of course.) Such are the limitations of the makeup and special effects budgets of a TV series, one might argue. Yet even the Star Wars epics, with budgets far larger than any television series, feature a menagerie of aliens not so dissimilar that they could not socialize together at the Mos Eisley cantina. See article.
g Aftermath - Will we find extraterrestrial intelligence—and should we want to? Such are the questions examined in “Contact with Alien Civilizations.” Michael A.G. Michaud, a space policy analyst and former diplomat, provides an engrossing overview of the probabilities, promises, and risks of encountering smart aliens. Drawing heavily on the scientific and scholarly literature (he apologizes for not thoroughly discussing science fiction), Michaud’s approach is to compile diverse expert opinions on alien-related topics and relentlessly scrutinize premises about what the extraterrestrials would be like. His analysis suggests that contact is a serious—and not necessarily pleasant—possibility. See article or this review.

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Exploring Martian life in Australian lakes and the five tones of ‘Close Encounters’

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 - Researchers have discovered a distant star that exploded when its center became so hot that matter and anti-matter particle pairs were created. The star, dubbed Y-155, began its life around 200 times the mass of our Sun but probably became "pair-unstable" and triggered a runaway thermonuclear reaction that made it visible nearly halfway across the universe. See article.
g Abodes - The Voyager 1 spacecraft, after traveling about 4 billion miles into space, turned around and looked back home. From such a distance, the Earth appeared as a pale blue dot, a single point of light suspended in the vast blackness of space. If aliens from much more distant worlds were to look at our solar system, the Earth, if it could be seen at all, would seem even more tiny and faint. How could they know that dot of light represents a world teeming with life? See article.
g Life - By the time Curiosity, the next Mars Rover, launches in 2011, scientists on Earth will know more about the potential for life on Mars because of microorganisms that live in Australian lakes. See article.
g Intelligence - Spontaneous brain activity formerly thought to be "white noise" measurably changes after a person learns a new task, researchers have shown. See article.
g Message - Would the five tones from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” be a good signal to send ETI? See article.
g Learning - A new study co-written by a University of Illinois expert in math education suggests that incorporating technology in high school-level geometry classes not only makes the teaching of concepts such as congruency easier, it also empowers students to discover other geometric relationships they wouldn't ordinarily uncover when more traditional methods of instruction were used. See article.
g Imagining - From historical myths and legends to fanciful science-fiction tales of little green men and the uncertain possibility of life beyond our planet, Aliens have been a pop-culture phenomenon for centuries now, being portrayed as both harmless curious visitors to threatening monsters with aspirations to take over our planet. See article.
g Aftermath - A raft of newly unclassified CIA documents reveal that the remote possibility of alien invasion elicited greater fear than a Soviet nuclear attack. See article.

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Five more exoplanets discovered and keys to ensure a beneficial and rewarding first encounter 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 Abodes - The lead scientist for a new NASA space telescope announced the discovery of five more "exoplanets" far beyond our own solar system, and expressed optimism that his team is on a path to finding an Earth-sized planet in an Earth-like orbit in the near future. See article.
g Message - Should we modify the Drake Equation to account for civilizations which actually engage in deliberate interstellar transmission? See article. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Cosmicus - The mission of NASA's Mars rover Spirit was initially scheduled for three months. Now, the rover has marked six years on Mars. In this time, Spirit has found evidence that the ancient environment of Mars was far different than today. The data will help astrobiologists understand if the red planet was once habitable for life. See article.
g Aftermath - A detection of extraterrestrial intelligence will profoundly affect all inhabitants of our planet. The scientific community has realized that the keys to ensure a beneficial and rewarding encounter is education and preparation, and these two characteristics apply to many facets of a detection. See article.

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Plausibility of ‘Avatar’ and help SETI discover 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 - For a brief span of time, about 542 million years ago, the world belonged to the Ediacarans, a group of life forms so physiologically unique that biologists have considered giving them their own taxonomic kingdom.. See article.
g Intelligence - Some Neanderthals probably were redheads, DNA reveals. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.
g Message - Want to help SETI discover alien life? If you haven’t already done so, download the free SETI at Home software. Using Internet-connected computers, the program downloads and analyzes radio telescope data on your desktop when it is idle. The program has been so successful in plowing through data that other scientific researchers, especially in medicine, are adopting it to their fields. Click here for the program.
g Cosmicus - A new website is giving amateur and professional astronomers formal mechanisms for reporting unexplained phenomena they observe in the night sky. The site will contribute toward a better understanding of transient phenomena occurring in the atmosphere. See article.
g Imagining - Since 1977 we’ve discovered over 400 planets orbiting others stars. We have reconnoitered the solar system. Base on today’s knowledge, what about “Avatar” is scientifically plausible or implausible? See article.

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Moon colony in a hole and the odds of detecting ETI’s signal

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Intelligence - Are redheads going extinct? See article.
g Message - What are the chances that an alien signal has been sent our way just at the right moment to splash upon our antennas during that brief interval? If the extraterrestrials beam their broadcasts to the whole galaxy (or at least a big chunk of it), the chances are 100 percent. See article. Note: This article is from 2006.
g Cosmicus - Building a home near a moon crater or a lunar sea may sound nice, but moon colonists might have a much better chance of survival if they just lived in a hole. See article.
g Aftermath - With humanity now on the verge of being capable to leave its home world, Earth, scientists have begun to wrestle with the consequences of this next great journey; of the social impact humanity will undergo upon discovering life elsewhere, be it fossil, bacterial or an intelligent civilization. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.

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Solar system’s age recalculated and scientific accuracy of Polyphemus

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 - Researchers have recalculated the solar system’s age. See article.
g Abodes - The new science fiction blockbuster "Avatar" is set on habitable and inhabited moon Pandora, which orbits the fictional gas giant Polyphemus in the real Alpha Centauri system. See article.
g Intelligence - The timing of molar emergence and its relation to growth and reproduction in apes is being reported by two scientists at Arizona State University's Institute of Human Origins. See article.
g Message - One of our natural tendencies when we make contact with strangers is to try to impress them. Sloppy dressers might polish their shoes for a job interview, hopeful suitors will wash their cars for a first date and prospective children-in-law will be on their best behavior in the presence of the parents of their intended. Wouldn’t we want to do the same in our first contact with ET? Lewis Thomas, in his book “Lives of a Cell,” suggests that if we want to impress an alien civilization, we should send "Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again." See article. Note: This article is from 2002.
g Cosmicus - A speedy NASA spacecraft is halfway to Pluto and on track for a 2015 rendezvous with the distant, icy world. See article.

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A New Years' Resolution

As the new year begins, let us all make a resolution: We will work to make humanity a truly space-faring race. For the past half-century, we’ve ventured into space as if children wading a few feet into a great ocean. But there are other islands out there — and now is the time to swim.

This blog is dedicated to one event that very well may compel us to becoming a space-faring race: contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. It is a serious site; you won’t find a discussion of UFOs and the Fifth Dimension’s denizens here. Instead, it updates readers daily of the latest scientific advances in a number of fields related to the multidisciplinary study of astrobiology.

Its sections are loosely arranged around the now famous Drake equation, developed by astronomer Frank Drake, who conducted the first modern search for extraterrestrial life in 1960. The equation seeks to determine the number of technological civilizations that might exist among the stars:

R * FP * NE * FL * FI * FC * LN = N

In the equation, R is the mean rate of star formation averaged over the lifetime of the galaxy; FP the fraction of stars with planetary systems; NE the mean number of planets per system with environments suitable for the origin of life; FL the fraction of such planets on which life does develop; FI the fraction of such planets on which intelligent life rises during the lifetime of the local sun; FC the fraction of planets on which advanced technical civilizations rises; L the lifetime of this technical civilization; and N the number of advanced technical civilizations emitting detectable radio signals.

This blog’s sections and the general topics addressed in each one include:
g Stars - Cosmology and astronomy, which affect our understanding of the mean rate of star formation averaged over the lifetime of the galaxy and the fraction of stars with planetary systems, or R and FP in the equation
g Abodes - Geology and Earth climate, which helps us grasp the mean number of planets per system with environments suitable for the origin of life, or NE in the equation
g Life - Biology, especially the evolution of life, as well as chemistry and other sciences that advance our understanding of the fraction of such planets on which life does develop, or FL in the equation
g Intelligence - How homo sapiens and, more generally, intelligence evolves, to help us determine the fraction of such planets on which intelligent life rises during the lifetime of the local sun, or FI in the equation
g Message - A discussion of our attempts to communicate with our other intelligences, to increase our knowledge of the fraction of planets on which advanced technical civilizations rises, or FC in the equation
g Cosmicus - Humanity's climb to the status of a space-faring civilization, a necessary step to increase the lifetime of this technical civilization, or L in the equation; the term “cosmicus” comes from the father of Russian astronautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who envisioned humanity becoming “homo cosmicus” or a space-faring civilization — we will become “homo cosmicus” when the first human is born, lives, grows old and dies in space, returning to Earth only as a visitor
g Learning - Science education, as humanity's future and astrobiology's success depends upon a science-literate youth and public; it also is a necessary step to increase the lifetime of this technical civilization, or L in the equation
g Imagining - This section consists of musings on the possibilities of science fiction aliens as science fiction offers a literary portal for us to examine elements of the Drake Equation; I’ll primarily focus on “Star Trek,” the most popular and serious of the science fiction genre
g Aftermath - Looking beyond the Drake Equation is perhaps the most important question that will face humanity in the century ahead: “What will happen after we make contact with aliens?”; this section offers the latest speculations

I hope each of you will return daily to stay current with astrobiology — and that it may inspire you to work toward cosmicus.

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