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 new report describes some surprisingly complex ways in which the Sun affects Earth's climate. Radiation from the Sun impacts everything from the Earth's upper atmosphere down to our planet's surface, and plays in important role in shpaing the future of life on Earth. See article.
g Life - Scientists have proven that dung beetles use the Milky Way for orientation. The insects use the gradient of light to dark in the night sky to guide them as they roll their balls in a straight line. See article.
g Message - The Wisconsin Public Radio program “To the Best of Our Knowledge” recently interviewed a number of experts about why astronomers believe that one day soon . . . within a decade . . . you'll wake up to the news of life . . . on another planet. See podcast; look for theprogram daed 2/12/12.
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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.