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 - How does the G-type star Gliese 314 A compare to our own sun? See article.
g Abodes - A new study shows that the dwarf planet Haumea and one of its satellites are covered in water-ice due to tidal forces between them and the heat of radiogenic elements. See article.
g Life - A new study is helping scientists understand how certain yeasts developed their ability to ferment sugar. This process of ethanol production is a key step in making products like wine. The work is providing new information about the mechanisms that link evolution and environment. See article.
g Message - So far, NASA's Kepler space telescope has identified 1,235 possible extrasolar planets. Now, astronomers are aiming a radio telescope at the most Earth-like ones to see if they can detect advanced civilizations that might call these planets home. See article.
g Cosmicus - r the first time, scientists have demonstrated a version of the Doppler effect at an extremely small level - the rotation of an individual molecule. Rotational Doppler effect is used to determine the rotational velocity of planets and could now help study the properties of molecules. See article.
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The Drake Equation
This formula estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.N=(R*)(Ns)(Fp)(Ne)(Fl)(Fi)(Fc)(L)
Where:- N = Number of civilizations we can communicate with
- R* = Average star formation rate
- Ns = Percentage of stars capable of supporting earth-like planets
- Fp = Percentage of those stars with planets
- Ne = Average umber of planets in those stars' habitable zones
- Fl = Percentage of those planets where life begins
- Fi = Percentage of planets with life where an intelligent species evolves
- Fc = Percentage of those intelligent species that develop communication technology
- L = Average lifetime, in years, of a civilization that develops such technology
About Me
- Rob Bignell
- I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.