Fifty billion planets estimated and what if nobody is transmitting?

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 - Our galaxy could be home to a whopping 50 billion planets, say scientists working on NASA's Kepler planet-hunting telescope. See article.
g Life - Rising carbon dioxide levels associated with global warming may affect interactions between plants and the insects that eat them, altering the course of plant evolution, research suggests. See article.
g Message - Whenever the director of SETI research presents a public lecture, she can almost guarantee that “What If everybody is listening and nobody is transmitting?” will be one of the questions the audience asks. See article. This article is from 2005.
g Cosmicus - Oxygen has played a major role in the history of life on Earth. Now, thanks to research at NASA, oxygen is also being used to repair artistic masterpieces and enhance materials used on spacecraft. NASA has developed uses for atomic oxygen that will aid future space exploration and also improve life here on Earth. See article.

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