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 - A new study suggests that evidence of ancient life on Mars might be found at relatively shallow depths on the Martian surface. The findings suggest that, if Mars harbor simple organic molecules, NASA's prospects for discovering them with the Curiosity rover are better than previously thought. See article.
g Message - Isolated events are not science's strong suite. If something happens once and never appears again then it's difficult, if not impossible, for the methods of science to be of much use. What you are left with is a question mark. That is the fate of the famous "WOW!" signal — an event that may or may not have been the reception of a signal from ETs. The question facing the rest of us is what do we make of such isolated events. See article.
g Cosmicus - Astronaut Don Pettit recently completed a stay on the International Space Station as part of the Expedition 31 crew. While in orbit, he posted a series of diary entries about his experiences on the station and the important research that the crew conducted concerning life's adaptation to the space environment. 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.