Saturday, November 06, 2010

Carbon dioxide is Martian ‘water’ 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 - A team of astronomers has found evidence that the universe may have gone through a warming trend early in its history. They measured the temperature of the gas that lies in between galaxies, and found a clear indication that it had increased steadily over the period from when the universe was one tenth to one quarter of its current age. This cosmic climate change is most likely caused by the huge amount of energy output from young, active galaxies during this epoch. See article.
g Abodes - River-like gullies are found in various locations on Mars, and many point to these features as proof that liquid water once flowed on the planet's surface. A new study, however, says that frozen carbon dioxide piling up on Martian dunes trigger avalanches that carve out the mysterious gullies. See article.
g Life - The nature-nurture debate is a "giant step" closer to being resolved after scientists studying bees documented how environmental inputs can modify our genetic hardware. The researchers uncovered extensive molecular differences in the brains of worker bees and queen bees which develop along very different paths when put on different diets. See article.
g Intelligence - Fossil finger bones of early human ancestors suggest that Neanderthals were more promiscuous than human populations today, researchers at the universities of Liverpool and Oxford have found. See article.
g Message - Should we modify the Drake Equation to account for civilizations which actually engage in deliberate interstellar transmission? See article. This article is from 2005.
g Cosmicus - A new holographic technology being developed at the University of Arizona could eventually let us interact with lifelike images of friends living across the globe. See article.

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1 comment:

Rob Bignell said...

A good, mathematical explantion of signals and their various classifications, Mitu. Thanks for sharing.