Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Methane-based life on Tiran and beaming high-powered signals into space for ETI to hear

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 - With a mass of more than 10,000 suns packed into a volume with a diameter of a mere three light-years, the massive young star cluster in the nebula NGC 3603 is one of the most compact stellar clusters in the Milky Way and an ideal place to test theories for their formation. See article.
g Abodes - New analysis of complex chemical activity on Titan is raising questions about the potential for primitive, exotic life on the Saturnian moon. According to one theory, the chemical signatures fulfill two important conditions necessary for a hypothesized “methane-based life.” See article.
g Life - Scientists have discovered methane-eating bacteria that survive in a highly unique spring located on a remote Island in northern Canada. In some ways, the spring could be similar to environments on past or present Mars. See article.
g Message - Would anyone deliberately beam high-powered signals into space? Can we assume that extraterrestrial societies would broadcast in ways that would mark their location as plainly as a flag on a golf green? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g Cosmicus - The proposed Europa Astrobiology Lander would perform astrobiology related exploration on the surface of Europa. Specific science goals and instruments would be decided by the findings of the Europa Jupiter System Mission, which is currently in development. See article.
g Learning - Kids love to make things explode in science class. How about an entire star? Thanks to NASA, supernovas will soon be going off in classrooms around the country-no safety glasses required. It's done via a DVD called Journey to the Stars. Teachers can request a free copy along with supporting lesson plans and activity sheets. See article.

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