Extreme views of ETI’s nature and small planets can form around stars poor in heavy elements

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 research shows that small planets could form around stars that are poor in heavy elements. The study may significantly increase the likelihood that Earth-like planets are widespread in the universe. See article.
g Intelligence - The landmark publication of a "map" of the bacterial make-up of healthy humans has deep roots in an unexpected place: the ocean. See article.
g Imagining - At one extreme in alien-invasion movies, there's the slimy, razor-toothed, grotesque creature full of powerhouse violence - and a too-eager desire to feast on human filet. These aliens, never cordial in social settings, are the worst-nightmare kind of beast that one finds in the "Alien" series or "The Thing," among many others. At the other extreme are kinder, gentler alien visitors - "E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial," "Paul" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," along with those using human form to hide their extraterrestrial identities as happened in "Starman" and "Cocoon." And as crazy as it sounds, those extremes reflect opposing positions of an actual scientific debate about extraterrestrial invaders, or at least a well-publicized intellectual disagreement that occurred this spring between two renowned scientists, Jill Tarter and Stephen Hawking. See article. Get your SF book manuscript edited