Cosmic clocks, super-Earth and knock-kneed early humans

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 - Astronomers using the 76-m Lovell radio telescope at the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank Observatory have discovered a very strange pulsar that helps explain how pulsars act as 'cosmic clocks' and confirms theories put forward 37 years ago to explain the way in which pulsars emit their regular beams of radio waves - considered to be one of the hardest problems in astrophysics. Their research, now published in Science Express, reveals a pulsar that is only “on” for part of the time. The strange pulsar is spinning about its own axis and slows down 50% faster when it is “on” compared to when it is “off.” See article.
g Abodes - An international team of astronomers has discovered a "super-Earth" orbiting in the outer region of a solar system 9,000 light-years away. Weighing 13 times as much as Earth, with a temperature of minus 330 degrees Fahrenheit, the planet is one of the coldest ever discovered outside our solar system. See article.
g Life - Hunger for protein and salt, and a fear of cannibalism, drives the mass migration of Mormon crickets in western North America. See article.
g Intelligence - A re-examination of anklebones from ancient human ancestors indicates their gait was not as stable as previous research indicated. They were knock-kneed. See article.
g Message - "If you're sending a message to extraterrestrials, what you want to send is what's special about us and our planet — what is unusual," according to SETI astronomer Frank Drake. Read his latest essay.
g Cosmicus - After a grueling day climbing the mountains of the moon, astronauts will need a place to kick back and relax. Larry Toups of the Johnson Space Center talks with Astrobiology Magazine about the challenges of designing a dwelling for the future moonwalkers. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a wonderful Web site for kids: “Mysteries of Space and Time.” By the time a student finishes navigating this site, space should no longer be a mystery. Using clever graphics and offering games and other interactive features, this resource thoroughly covers black holes, the planets, and many anomalies of space. The lab section will be particularly helpful to astronomy students. See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Mark J. McGarry’s "Harmony," anthologized in “Alien Encounters” (edited by Jan Finder).
g Aftermath - What would an intelligent signal from another planet change about human destiny? This large question is the topic of the book "The SETI Factor," by Frank White, who also analyzes how to announce such an historic finding and whether it would unite or divide nations. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

Read this blogger’s books

Cepheid envelopes, Stardust findings and music therapy

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Using ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer at Cerro Paranal, Chile, and the CHARA Interferometer at Mount Wilson, Calif., a team of French and North American astronomers has discovered envelopes around three Cepheids, including the Pole Star. This is the first time that matter is found surrounding members of this important class of rare and very luminous stars whose luminosity varies in a very regular way. Cepheids play a crucial role in cosmology, being one of the first "steps" on the cosmic distance ladder. See article.
g Abodes - Scientists have analyzed some of the particles captured by NASA's Stardust mission and returned to Earth earlier this year. And they've found a big surprise. Although the particles come from a comet that formed in the deep-frozen outer reaches of the solar system, they contain minerals that could only have been created near the sun. See article. For related story, see “Broken Comet On Its Way”.
g Life - In the first study to link social evolution to climate change, Cornell's Bryan Danforth and colleagues show that the social behavior of many sweat bees evolved simultaneously during a period of recent global warming, only 20 million to 22 million years ago. See article.
g Intelligence - A project led by a researcher from the University of Western Sydney has found that music therapy can help sick babies in intensive care maintain normal behavioral development, making them less irritable, upset and less likely to cry. See article.
g Message - What would be a sign of alien intelligence? Forget mathematics — try a simple, pure-tone radio signal. See article.
g Cosmicus - Humanity has the power to fill outer space with life. Today our solar system is filled with plasma, gas, dust, rock, and radiation - but very little life; just a thin film around the third rock from the Sun. It's time to change that. In the 1970's Princeton physicist Gerard O'Neill with the help of NASA Ames Research Center and Stanford University showed that we can build giant orbiting spaceships and live in them. These orbital space colonies can be wonderful places to live; about the size of a California beach town and endowed with weightless recreation, fantastic views, freedom, elbow-room in spades, great wealth and true independence. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity, courtesy of NASA: “The Drake Equation”. Students estimate the number of civilizations in the galaxy by first estimating the number of craters on the Moon and then by performing estimates of multiple-variable systems culminating in the use of the Drake Equation.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Ian McDonald’s “Chaga” (a.k.a. “Evolution's Shore”), published by Gollancz, 1995.
g Aftermath - If we do make contact with extraterrestrials, they’ll probably be a Type II or III Kardashev civilization. What’s a Kardashev civilization? See article. For related story on the Kardashev scale, see this article.

Read this blogger’s books

Pulsar collision, color of Pluto’s moons and how chemistry becomes biology

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers have witnessed a never-seen-before event in observations by ESA’s XMM-Newton spacecraft - a collision between a pulsar and a ring of gas around a neighboring star. See article.
g Abodes - The color of Pluto’s two recently discovered satellites are essentially the same neutral color as Pluto’s large moon, Charon, scientists say. See article.
g Life - How does chemistry become biology? Solving this question is important for research into life’s origins, and also for the search for life elsewhere in the universe. In this interview, Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, describes a new comprehensive study that will try to figure out how chemical systems cross over into the world of the living. See article.
g Intelligence - A new, more robust analysis of recently derived human gene trees shows three distinct major waves of human migration out of Africa instead of just two, and statistically refutes — strongly — the 'Out of Africa' replacement theory. See article.
g Message - Most people see SETI as a project for merely listening for signals from other stars, but Yvan Dutil and Stephane Dumas from the Defence Research Establishment Valcartier in Canada had other ideas in mind when they composed a message sent to the stars in 1999. See article. Note: This article is from 2000.
g Cosmicus - See NASA's Space Shuttle Program successfully fired a full-scale, full-duration reusable solid rocket technical evaluation motor earlier this month at a Utah test facility. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site for getting kids interested in astronomy: “Your Sky,” the interactive planetarium of the Web. You can produce maps in the forms described below for any time and date, viewpoint, and observing location. If you enter the orbital elements of an asteroid or comet, “Your Sky” will compute its current position and plot it on the map. Each map is accompanied by an ephemeris for the Sun, Moon, planets, and any tracked asteroid or comet. A control panel permits customisation of which objects are plotted, limiting magnitudes, colour scheme, image size, and other parameters. See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Jack McDevitt’s novel The Hercules Text, published by Ace in 1986.
g Aftermath - The next social science to be created might be "exopsychology" — the study of behavior, attitudes, personalities and thoughts of alien beings. Although necessarily speculative, exopsychology might eventually be a critical link between humans and aliens. In the meantime, such a study could also provide the additional benefit of informing us about earthbound prejudices. See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Assembling giant galaxies, water on Enceladus and meet the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Giant galaxies weren't assembled in a day. Neither was this Hubble Space Telescope image of the face-on Pinwheel Galaxy. The image is the largest and most detailed photo of a spiral galaxy ever released from Hubble. See article.
g Abodes - Could Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus have liquid water right below the icy surface? A new paper in the journal Science argues for the presence of such a reservoir, saying it is the most likely source for the plumes of particles ejected from the moon’s south pole. See article. For related story, see “Enceladus the storyteller”.
g Life - A few months after researchers on one team thought they had discovered a new family of rodent, another group snatched their glory by identifying the critter as a member of a family thought long extinct. See article.
g Intelligence - Forget about opposites attracting. We like people who look like us, because they tend to have personalities similar to our own. And, a new study suggests, the longer we are with someone, the more those similarities grow. See article. For related story, see “Facial Characteristics Indicative Of Personality Traits, Say Experts”.
g Cosmicus - Get to know MRO — Top 10 facts about NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. For related story, see “New manager for Mars rovers in challenging time”.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Anne McCaffrey’s novel “Decision at Doona,” published by Del Rey in 1969.
g Aftermath - Among scientists involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, it’s quite common to be focused on the future, ever mindful that it could take years, or even decades, to find a signal from otherworldly intelligence. But if historian Steve Dick has his way, astronomers will also turn their attention toward the past as they search for life beyond Earth — to discover the aftereffects of contact between two intelligent cultures. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

Read this blogger’s books

Titan’s atmosphere, life’s traits across many worlds and funding astrobiology

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Possibly similar to what our own Milky Way looks like, Messier 100 is a grand design spiral galaxy that presents an intricate structure, with a bright core and two prominent arms, showing numerous young and hot massive stars as well as extremely hot knots. The galaxy was the target of the European Southern Observatory to perform detailed observations of the newly found supernova SN 2006X. See article.
g Abodes - A new composite view reveals a tremendous amount of structure in the northern polar atmosphere of Titan. The hazes in Titan's atmosphere are known to extend hundreds of kilometers above the surface. See article. For related stories, see “Titan shines through” and “To the relief of Iapetus”.
g Life - Life on Earth has been shaped by random events unique to the history of our planet, so it may be unlikely we’ll ever find similar life forms elsewhere. But paleontologist Geerat Vermeij says that many traits are so advantageous that they will appear again and again. See article.
g Intelligence - After long suspecting we’re born with some math sense, researchers have shown infants indeed have some ability to count long before they can demonstrate it to mom and dad. See article.
g Message - Should we be looking for extraterrestrial civilizations, rather than just listening for them, as we do in the SETI project? That is the suggestion of a French astronomer, Luc Arnold, in his paper “Transit Lightcurve Signatures of Artificial Objects.” He believes that the transit of large artificial objects in front of a sun could be a used for the emission of attention-getting signals. See article.
g Cosmicus - Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. As part of that, it seeks to understand the origin of the building blocks of life, how these building blocks combine to create life, how life affects and is affected by the environment from which it arose, and finally, whether and how life expands beyond its planet of origin. It requires studying fundamental concepts of life and habitable environments that will help us to recognize biospheres that might be quite different from our own. This includes studying the limits of life, life's phylogeny and effects of the space environment on living systems. Such fundamental questions require long term stable funding for the science community. This means keeping the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the grants programs funded at healthy levels. See article.
g Learning - Discover the universe, its components and origins — play “Spaceball”. Here’s a Web site structured as if a championship baseball game is being played between a celestial object and a spacecraft. Besides being fun, it helps children explore our solar system and the people and spacecraft that made our adventures in and knowledge of space possible.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Barry B. Longyear’s short story "Misencounter," anthologized in “Alien Encounters” (which is edited by Jan Finder).
g Aftermath - As we look toward exploring other worlds, and perhaps even bringing samples back to Earth for testing, astrobiologists have to wonder: could there be alien pathogens in those samples that will wreak havoc on our world? See article. Note: This article is from 2003.

Read this blogger’s books

Unexplainable cosmic outburst, Earth’s evil twin and Baboon bereavement

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers have detected a new type of cosmic outburst that they can't yet explain. The event was very close to our galaxy, they said. See article. For related story, see “Spacecraft detects new kind of cosmic explosion”.
g Abodes - David Grinspoon, astrobiology curator at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and author of the book, "Venus Revealed," recently attended the 2006 Chapman conference, "Exploring Venus as a Terrestrial Planet." In this essay, he provides an overview of the conference, examines Venus controversies, and explains how we could learn about the possibility of life elsewhere by studying "Earth’s Evil Twin." See article.
g Life - A team of American-led divers has discovered a new crustacean in the South Pacific that resembles a lobster and is covered with what looks like silky, blond fur, French researchers said. See article.
g Intelligence - According to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, baboons physiologically respond to bereavement in ways similar to humans, with an increase in stress hormones called glucocorticoids. Baboons can lower their glucocorticoid levels through friendly social contact, expanding their social network after the loss of specific close companions. See article. For related story, see “Queen of Mean' Turns Nice When Daughter Dies”.
g Message - Because of the ability to study many areas on the sky at once, with more channels and for 24 hours a day, the Allen Telescope Array will permit an expansion from SETI’s last stellar reconnaissance of 1,000 stars to 100 thousand or even 1 million nearby stars. See article.
g Cosmicus - Take one part high-frequency gravitational wave generation, then add in a quantum vacuum field. Now whip wildly via a gravitomagnetic force in a rotating superconductor while standing by for Alcubierre warp drive in higher dimensional space-time. See article.
g Learning - Here’s an interesting classroom activity: “Who Can Live Here?” Students explore the limits of life on Earth to extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s "Heavenly Host," anthologized in “First Contact” (edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Larry Segriff and published by DAW in 1997).
g Aftermath - The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence is accelerating its pace and adopting fresh strategies. This increases the likelihood of successful detection in the near future. Humanity's first contact with alien intelligence will trigger extraordinary attention from the media, from government authorities, and from the general public. By improving our readiness for contact, especially for security during the first 30 days, we can avoid the most negative scenarios — and also enhance humanity's benefits from this first contact with an alien intelligence. Six potential problem areas include communicating with the media and the public, communicating with scientific colleagues, government control, an assassin or saboteur, well-meaning officials and lawsuits. See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Black hole bonanza, extinction hotspots and reusable space capsule

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Data from X-ray observatory surveys show that black holes are much more numerous and evolved differently than researchers would have expected, according to a Penn State astronomer. See article.
g Abodes - If our solar system has a Hell, it's Venus. The air is choked with foul and corrosive sulfur, literally brimstone, heaved from ancient volcanoes and feeding battery-acid clouds above. Although the second planet is a step farther from the sun than Mercury, a runaway greenhouse effect makes it hotter—indeed, it's the hottest of the nine planets, a toasty 900°F of baking basalt flats from equator to poles. All this under a crushing atmospheric pressure 90 times that of where you're sitting now. From the earthly perspective, a dead end. It must be lifeless. See article. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Life - Using the newest geographic, biological, and phylogenetic databases for nearly 4,000 mammal species, researchers have identified 20 regions around the globe as potential extinction hotspots. See article.
g Intelligence - When faced with a new learning task, our brains replay events in reverse, much like a video on rewind, a new study suggests. See article.
g Message - SETI and the University of California at Berkeley decided they needed their own instrument, so they started developing the Allen Telescope Array. See article.
g Cosmicus - Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is asking NASA to help fund the demonstration of a reusable space capsule the El Segundo, Calif.-based company has been developing in secret with its own funding for the past 18 months. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site: Sci-fi Magazine, a WebQuest for high school students (science or literature)designed to ask students to critically analyze the use of science in a science fiction novel.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Jane Lindskold’s "Small Heroes," anthologized in “First Contact,” edited by Martin H. Greenberg & Larry Segriff (published by DAW in 1997).
g Aftermath - If we establish communication with a civilization even as close as 100 light years from Earth, the round-trip time for a message and its reply is 200 years. What will be the psychology of a civilization that can engage in a meaningful conversation with this sort of delay? How is such a conversation to be established? What should the content of such a conversation be? See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Sibling galaxies, why Venus went wrong and the moon as a lifeboat

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - The Milky Way and its nearest galactic neighbor, Andromeda, don’t resemble each other much now, but a new study suggests the two shared similar beginnings and evolved in similar ways, at least over their first several billion years. See article.
g Abodes - Venus is our nearest planetary neighbor. Compared to the Earth, it's nearly identical in size and distance from the Sun. But that's where the similarities end. While we enjoy our comfortable temperature, pressure and atmosphere, Venus' environment is downright hostile to life. The European Space Agency's Venus Express blasted off for our "evil twin" planet today, and will hope to help answer the question: What went wrong? Larry Esposito, a member of the Venus Express science team, explains. Note: This article is from 2005.
g Life - A baby Triceratops skull suggests the impressive horns of the beast were for more than just attracting a mate. See articles.
g Intelligence - A new study reveals that we make our music purchases based partly on our perceived preferences of others. See articles.
g Message - The next generation of big radio telescopes won't look anything like today's massive dishes. Instead of giant steel constructions towering into the sky, the future will belong to more economical arrays of many small antennas hugging the ground. And, in a historic role reversal, searchers for extraterrestrial intelligence are blazing a trail for conventional radio astronomy to follow. See articles.
g Cosmicus - In the second of a series of 'Gedanken,' or thought experiments, Bernard Foing suggests that the moon could act as a lifeboat in case Earth is ever struck down by a major catastrophe. See article.
g Learning - The National Space Society wants kids to design your best space settlement - a place in space for kids, their friends, and family to live, play and work. If design isn’t your thing, then write a story, draw a picture, invent a weightless sport, or come up with something entirely new about life in space. Then send the creation to NASA Ames Research Center by March 31st. Make it good though, you’ll be competing with hundreds of like-minded space enthusiasts in the 13th annual NASA Ames Space Settlement design contest for 6-12th grade students. See rules.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read C.S. Lewis’ novel “Out of The Silent Planet,” published by Lane in 1938.
g Aftermath - Astronomers are searching hard for that first interstellar phone-call from ET. But when it happens, how will we react? Will it be a major trauma for humankind, or a new beginning? See article. Note: This article is a few years old.

Read this blogger’s books

Dark matter density, biology experiments on Mars and brain networks

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers have determined the density and speed of dark matter in our corner of the universe. The finding helps bring dark matter out of the realm of the hypothetical and places scientists a few steps to closer figuring out what this invisible stuff that pervades the universe and holds galaxies together is made of. It also settles once and for all the question of which galaxy — our Milky Way or Andromeda — is more massive. And the winner is ...
g Abodes - Everyday ice used to chill that glass of lemonade has helped researchers better understand the internal structure of icy moons in the far reaches of the solar system. See article.
g Life - It's been nearly 25 years since NASA sent biological experiments to Mars. Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, thinks it's time to try again. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.
g Intelligence - In the first study of native African honeybees and honey-making stingless bees in the same habitat, humans and chimpanzees are the primary bee nest predators. See article.
g Message - When looking for ET, we may have to consider other strategies beyond radio waves. See article. As a side note, one of those strategies might by looking for optical signals; see article for more.
g Cosmicus - Researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School and the Brain Sciences Center at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center have discovered a new way to assess how brain networks act together. See article.
g Learning - Here are some great teacher resources on space biology. The modules cover such topics as “Life in the Universe,” “Radiation Biology” and “Life in Space Environments.” Each module includes an introduction, readings and references, teaching resources and research and applications.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Murray Leinster’s short story "De Profundis," which originally appeared in “Thrilling Wonder Stories” (Winter 1945 issue).
g Aftermath - Though an older Web posting, “After Contact, Then What?” shows how little we’ve thought about this question.

Read this blogger’s books

Three Out of Africa migrations, new tree of life and mission to Pluto

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers studying a disk of material circling a still-forming star inside our galaxy have found a tantalizing result - the inner part of the disk is orbiting the protostar in the opposite direction from the outer part of the disk. See article.
g Abodes - An international team of scientists, supported by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, reunited at the University of Bremen to analyze a trove of coral fossil samples retrieved from Tahitian waters during October and November. A few weeks ago, led by chief scientists from France and Japan, the science party started their yearlong analysis of 632 meters of fossil material retrieved from 37 boreholes drilled beneath the seafloor. The initial conclusion is that the IODP Tahiti Sea Level Expedition has assembled the most accurate physical evidence available today of changes in sea level during the last deglaciation, including a full record of temperature and salinity changes in the southern Pacific. See article.
g Life - In 1870 the German scientist Ernst Haeckel mapped the evolutionary relationships of plants and animals in the first “tree of life.” Since then scientists have continuously redrawn and expanded the tree-adding microorganisms and using modern molecular data, yet, many parts of the tree have remained unclear. Now a group at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg has developed a computational method that resolves many of the open questions and produced what is likely the most accurate tree ever. The study, which appears in the current issue of the journal Science, gives some intriguing insights into the origins of bacteria and the last common universal ancestor of all life on earth today. See article.
g Intelligence - A short list of scientific rules for the game of love is emerging. Some are as clearly defined as the prominent, feminine eyes of a supermodel or the desirable hips of a well-built man. Other rules work at the subconscious level, motivating us to action for evolutionary reasons that are tucked inside clouds of infatuation. See article.
g Message - The SETI Institute predicts that we'll detect an extraterrestrial transmission within twenty years. If that turns out to be true, it'll probably be the folks at UC Berkeley's Hat Creek radio observatory who will have heard the call. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - Alan Stern waited more than 17 years to see NASA launch a science mission to Pluto, and now that a spacecraft is safely on its way he knows much more time will pass before the data starts flowing back to Earth from that distant region of the solar system. See article.
g Learning - Do you have a children with a question about a topic in astronomy or about an object in space? You may find the answer under one of the categories at “Ask an Astronomer for Kids”.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Stephen Leigh’s novel “Alien Tongue,” published by Bantam Spectra in 1991.
g Aftermath - The U.S. and other world governments already have detailed secret plans for first contact. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

Read this blogger’s books

Anomalous cosmic rays, Saharan impact crater and toxoplasma infection

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - When Voyager 1 finally crossed the "termination shock" at the edge of interstellar space in December 2004, space physicists anticipated the long-sought discovery of the source of anomalous cosmic rays. These cosmic rays, among the most energetic particle radiation in the solar system, are thought to be produced at the termination shock - the boundary at the edge of the solar system where the million-mile-per-hour solar wind abruptly slows. A mystery unfolded instead when Voyager data showed 20 years of predictions to be wrong. See article.
g Abodes - Researchers from Boston University have discovered the remnants of the largest crater of the Great Sahara of North Africa, which may have been formed by a meteorite impact tens of millions of years ago. See article.
g Life - New research into a missing link in climatology shows that the Earth was not overcome by a greenhouse period when dinosaurs dominated, but experienced rapid fluctuations in temperature and sea level change that resulted in a balance of the global carbon cycle. See article.
g Intelligence - Half of the world's human population is infected with Toxoplasma, parasites in the body—and the brain. See article.
g Message - Put yourself in the situation of the aliens, out there somewhere in the galaxy. They surmise that Earth looks promising for the emergence of intelligent life one day, but they have no idea when. There would be little point in beaming radio messages in this direction for eons in the vague hope that one day radio technology would be developed here and someone would decide to tune in, says one astrobiologist. See article. Note: this article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - A robotic mission to study two of the solar system's largest asteroids has been killed by NASA after months of uncertainty while extensive reviews probed the mission's funding and technical credentials. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a great classroom resource guide, courtesy of NASA: NAI's team at NASA Ames Research Center has created Chapter 4 of the Yellowstone Resources and Issues Guide which tells all about thermophiles, their habitats in the park, and their relationship to both the history of life on Earth, and the search for life elsewhere. The guide is used to train park naturalists and rangers, and it can also serve as a valuable resource when teaching about extremophiles and astrobiology in the classroom. Download your copy.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Fritz Leiber’s “The Wanderer,” published by Ballantine in 1964.
g Aftermath - Clearly, if we are not alone in the universe, there are some unavoidable theological and philosophical consequences. We should reflect on the consequences of a positive result of either finding extraterrestrial microorganisms, or receiving a radio message form an extraterrestrial source: When such discovery occurs, the implications are likely to have an impact on our culture requiring adjustments possibly more radical than those arising form the evidence that humans descend from microorganisms. See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Stars wrapped in glass, human altruism and Harvard SETI searches

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has observed a rare population of colliding galaxies whose entangled hearts are wrapped in tiny crystals resembling crushed glass. The crystals are essentially sand, or silicate, grains that were formed like glass, probably in the stellar equivalent of furnaces. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2006/02/060217092023.htm.
g Abodes - The vast icy ocean current that circles around Antarctica is so huge that it carries 100 times more water than all the world's rivers combined, yet its influence on the world's climate is barely understood. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/
03/060301093222.htm.
g Life - Predators are, ironically, the key to keeping the world green, because they keep the numbers of plant-eating herbivores under control, reports a research team lead by John Terborgh, a professor of environmental science at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060228091342.htm.
g Intelligence - Altruism may breed better marriages, a new study suggests. Or, the data might instead mean that good marriages make people more altruistic. See http://www.livescience.com/human
biology/060209_love_altruism.html.
g Message - The Harvard SETI Group have conducted several searches for extraterrestrial life since 1978. For a history of those searches, see article.
g Cosmicus - If you’re looking to get your hands dirty and be on the ground floor of public space travel, you might touch base with one of the leading spaceline builders. See http://space.com/news/060224_rutan_hiring.html.
g Learning - Here’s an interesting classroom activity: “Who Can Live Here?” Students explore the limits of life on Earth to extend their beliefs about life to include its possibility on other worlds. See http://btc.montana.edu/ceres/astrobiology/LabActivities/Extreme
Environments.doc.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read C.M. Kornbluth’s short story "The Silly Season," originally published in F&SF (Fall 1950).
g Aftermath - What happens if we detect an extraterrestrial signal? Here’s text from congressional testimony outlining what would happen. See http://www.house.gov/science/space/jul12/chyba.htm. Note: This article is from 2001.

Metal-rich hydrogen cloud, killer carbon cycle and replaying the history of life

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers, using the unique capabilities offered by the high-resolution spectrograph on European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, have found a metal-rich hydrogen cloud in the distant universe. The result may help to solve the missing metal problem and provides insight on how galaxies form. See http://
www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0602/16invisible/.
g Abodes - New research into a missing link in climatology shows that the Earth was not overcome by a greenhouse period when dinosaurs dominated, but experienced rapid fluctuations in temperature and sea level change that resulted in a balance of the global carbon cycle. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2006/03/060302003032.htm.
g Life - If the history of life were to play out again from the beginning, it would have a similar plot and outcomes, although with a different cast and timing, argues UC Davis paleontologist Geerat Vermeij in a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/02/060228085505.htm.
g Intelligence - Any parent will tell you kids can be depressing at times. A new study shows that raising them is a lifelong challenge to your mental health. See http://www.livescience.com/human
biology/060207_parent_depression.html. For related story, see “Postpartum depression might be predictable” at http://www.science
daily.com/upi/index.phpfeed=Science&article=UPI12
006020720441300bcuspostpartum.xml.
g Message - Scientists are ramping up the search for extraterrestrial life with a powerful array of new telescopes and a refined sense of where to look within the vast expanses of our universe. See http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/space/nyhsstar0222,
0,5104997.storycoll=orlnewsheadlinesspace.
g Cosmicus - Space Adventures has announced plans for a new suborbital spacecraft and spaceports near major airports in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore that, it hopes, will draw eager customers seeking the space experience. See http://space.com/
businesstechnology/060222_techwed_spaceadventures.html.
g Learning - Here’s a neat lesson for middle school students about extraterrestrials, courtesy of the Discovery channel: http://school.
discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/extraterrestrials/.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Morton Klass’ "Earthman's Burden," originally published in “Astounding” magazine’s May 1954 issue.
g Aftermath - The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence is accelerating its pace and adopting fresh strategies. This increases the likelihood of successful detection in the near future. Humanity's first contact with alien intelligence will trigger extraordinary attention from the media, from government authorities, and from the general public. By improving our readiness for contact, especially for security during the first 30 days, we can avoid the most negative scenarios — and also enhance humanity's benefits from this first contact with an alien intelligence. Six potential problem areas include communicating with the media and the public, communicating with scientific colleagues, government control, an assassin or saboteur, well-meaning officials and lawsuits. See http://ieti.org/articles/
security.htm.

Glass-wrapped galaxies, keeping an open mind and new space station assembly sequence

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 - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has observed a rare population of colliding galaxies whose entangled hearts are wrapped in tiny crystals resembling crushed glass. This is the first time silicate crystals have been detected in a galaxy outside of our own. See article.
g Abodes - Scientists from NASA and Columbia University, New York, have used computer modeling to successfully reproduce an abrupt climate change that took place 8,200 years ago. At that time, the beginning of the current warm period, a massive flood of freshwater into the North Atlantic Ocean caused climate changes. See article.
gLife - For scientists eying distant planets and solar systems for signs of alien activity, University of Colorado at Boulder Professor Carol Cleland suggests the first order of business is to keep an open mind. See article.
g Intelligence - Women who feel that they become more forgetful as menopause approaches shouldn't just "fuhgetabout it": There may be something to their own widespread reports that they're more likely to forget things as menopause approaches, say scientists who reported results from a small study today at the annual meeting of the International Neuropsychological Society in Boston. See article.
g Message - Humankind has been unintentionally transmitting signals into space - primarily high-frequency radio, television, and radar - for more than fifty years. Our earliest TV broadcasts have reached several thousand nearby stars, although any alien viewers would have to build a very large antenna (thousands of acres in size) to detect them. See article.
g Cosmicus - NASA and its international partners unveiled a new space station assembly sequence Thursday, one that takes into account the looming 2010 end of the shuttle program by deferring science operations in favor of construction flights to ensure completion of the orbital outpost. See article. For related story, see “Russian Spacecraft Vital to Boost ISS Crew Size”.
g Learning - Here’s a neat introduction to astronomy: If you could approach the Milky Way from afar and then soar to its center, what would you find? See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Robert Heinlein’s (as Anson MacDonald) short story "Goldfish Bowl," originally published in the March 1942 Astounding magazine.
g Aftermath - The scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence is accelerating its pace and adopting fresh strategies. This increases the likelihood of successful detection in the near future. Humanity's first contact with alien intelligence will trigger extraordinary attention from the media, from government authorities, and from the general public. By improving our readiness for contact, especially for security during the first 30 days, we can avoid the most negative scenarios — and also enhance humanity's benefits from this first contact with an alien intelligence. Six potential problem areas include communicating with the media and the public, communicating with scientific colleagues, government control, an assassin or saboteur, well-meaning officials and lawsuits. See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Reproducing GEMS, maturing minds and extraterrestrial encoding scene

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - For the first time, a team of French scientists were able to reproduce the structure of the exotic GEMS in the laboratory. The results of their experiments will soon be published in Astronomy & Astrophysics. GEMS (glass with embedded metal and sulphides) is a major component of primitive interplanetary dust. To understand its origin is one of the primary objectives of planetary science, and especially of the recently successful Stardust mission. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2006/02/060215230145.htm. For related story, see “PETing Stardust” at http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name
=News&file=article&sid=1879mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Abodes - Forces brewing deep beneath Yellowstone National Park could be making one of the largest volcanoes on Earth even bigger, a new study reveals. See http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060301
_yellowstone_stirs.html.
g Life - Deeply buried ocean sediments may house populations of tiny organisms that have extremely low maintenance energy needs and population turnover rates of anywhere from 200 to 2,000 years, according to an international team of researchers. See http://www.astrobio.net
/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid
=1881mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - At an age when Americans are first considered adults, their brains are still maturing, a new study suggests. See http://www.live
science.com/humanbiology/060206_brain_mature.html.
g Message - Is it more likely for an advanced civilization to resort to some sophisticated encoding scheme than we would? See http://www.seti
universe.com/absolutenm/anmviewer.aspa=178&z=10.
g Cosmicus - Scientists who study the sun, moon, planets and stars protested on Thursday the Bush administration’s plan to send humans back to the moon and on to Mars. See http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/
03032006/world/90559.htm.
g Learning - Cozying up to sharks and eels is much more attractive in "Deep Sea 3D," where you can watch them from the comfort of a theater without worrying about winding up as dinner. The undersea documentary (40 minutes, Not Rated) opens in IMAX theaters nationwide over the weekend. It gives even the most landlocked viewer an up-close look—enhanced by three-dimensional glasses—at diverse ocean wildlife with the added benefit of staying dry. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060303_
deepsea_3D.html.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read James P. Hogan’s novel “Inherit the Stars,” published by Del Rey in 1977.
g Aftermath - Even if the public seems less than awestruck by the prospect that alien life is a bunch of microscopic bugs, astrobiologists say unequivocal discovery of microbial life beyond Earth will change human society in profound ways, some unfathomable today. See http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/news
_stories/news_detail.cfmID=138.

Compressed neutron stars, heading to Pluto and new lemur species

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 - An team of astronomers using the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope in eastern Australia has found a new kind of cosmic object - small, compressed “neutron stars” that show no activity most of the time but once in a while spit out a single burst of radio waves. See article.
g Abodes - As the New Horizons mission to Pluto prepared for launch in January, NASA presented a webcast in which mission scientists answered questions from the public. In this edited transcript, project scientist Harold Weaver Jr. talks about what we could learn about Pluto and the outer solar system when the spacecraft arrives at its destination nine years from now. See article.
gLife - Researchers have identified three new species of lemurs, the small, big-eyed primates native to the island of Madagascar. See article.
g Intelligence - Scientists believe they have created the perfect male face, a man so handsome that any woman would automatically pick him out of a crowd. See article. Note: this article is from 2002.
g Message - In 1974, the most powerful broadcast ever deliberately beamed into space was made from Puerto Rico. The broadcast formed part of the ceremonies held to mark a major upgrade to the Arecibo Radio Telescope. The transmission consisted of a simple, pictorial message, aimed at our putative cosmic companions in the globular star cluster M13. See article.
g Cosmicus - The Near Earth Asteroids offer both threat and promise. They present the threat of planetary impact with regional or global disaster. And they also offer the promise of resources to support humanity's long-term prosperity on Earth, and our movement into space and the solar system. See article.
g Learning - Understanding the origins of human diseases could help identify fresh avenues toward their prevention and treatment. At the very least, an appreciation of the evolutionary history of humans and other animals should make for better medical doctors and physician-scientists, which is why the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is collaborating with Carnegie Museum of Natural History to offer its students educational and research opportunities unlike any available at other medical schools. The partnership, the Natural History of Medicine Initiative, is the first of its kind involving a medical school and natural history museum. See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Charles Henneberg’s short story "The Blind Pilot," originally published in the January 1960 F&SF magazine.
g Aftermath - Even if the public seems less than awestruck by the prospect that alien life is a bunch of microscopic bugs, astrobiologists say unequivocal discovery of microbial life beyond Earth will change human society in profound ways, some unfathomable today. See article. Note: This article is from 2001.

Read this blogger’s books

Humming stars, hardwired grammar and targeting nearby stars on the search for life

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - Massive, dying stars vibrate like giant speakers and emit an audible hum before exploding in one of nature's most spectacular blasts, scientists say. See http://space.com/scienceastronomy/
060220_mm_sound_supernova.html.
g Abodes - Data from ESA's Huygens probe have been used to validate a new model of the evolution of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, showing that its methane supply may be locked away in a kind of methane-rich ice. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2006/03/060302090828.htm.
g Life - Spinosaurus is now officially the biggest carnivorous dinosaur known to science. See http://www.livescience.com/anim
alworld/060301_big_carnivores.html.
g Intelligence - University of Rochester scientists studying why characteristics of grammar are found in all languages say the use of grammar is hardwired in our brains. See http://www.sciencedaily.
com/upi/index.phpfeed=Science&article=UPI12006020619051000bcus
grammarbrain.xml.
g Message - In the search for life on other worlds, scientists can listen for radio transmissions from stellar neighborhoods where intelligent civilizations might lurk or they can try to actually spot planets like our own in habitable zones around nearby stars. Either approach is tricky and relies on choosing the right targets for scrutiny out of the many thousands of nearby stars in our galactic neighborhood. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/article1884.html.
g Cosmicus - A robotic mission to haul samples back from Mars to Earth should be on NASA’s "most wanted" list, but a risk adverse space agency has left the project in limbo. See http://space.com/
businesstechnology/060301_msr_overview.html.
g Learning - Here’s a cool introduction to astrobiology: A concept map of the field’s fundamental questions with links to each one: http://electra.ihmc.us/servlet/SBReadResourceServletrid=1025201
081978_2008951983_2137&partName=htmltext.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Lee Killough’s "The Lying Ear," anthologized in “Alien Encounters” (edited by Jan Finder).
g Aftermath - Book alert: What happens if SETI succeeds? Several dozen experts from the fields of sociology, technology and education consider the social consequences of finding a signal in “Social Implications of the Detection of Extraterrestrial Civilizations,” by John Billingham, Roger Heyns, David Milne and Seth Shostak (editors). Based on workshops held in 1991 and 1992, this is the definitive opus on the likely impact of an extraterrestrial signal. Don't believe all you see on TV, nor what you read in the chat groups: here is reasoned prognostication on what could be the biggest event in human history. See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/
0966633504/ref=ase_setiprime20/10391543748730217.

Solving a dark mystery, earliest speculations about communication with extraterrestrial intelligence and lunar lander contest

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 Chinese astronomer from the University of St Andrews has fine-tuned Einstein's groundbreaking theory of gravity, creating a 'simple' theory which could solve a dark mystery that has baffled astrophysicists for three-quarters of a century. See article.
g Abodes - Mangroves, the backbone of the tropical ocean coastlines, are far more important to the global ocean's biosphere than previously thought. And while the foul-smelling muddy forests may not have the scientific allure of tropical reefs or rain forests, a team of researchers has noted that the woody coastline-dwelling plants provide more than 10 percent of essential dissolved organic carbon that is supplied to the global ocean from land. See article.
gLife - It turns out lampreys, long thought to have taken a different evolutionary road than almost all other backboned animals, may not be so different after all, especially in terms of the genetics that govern their skeletal development. See article.
g Intelligence - Just 30 minutes of brisk walking can immediately boost the mood of depressed patients, giving them the same quick pick-me-up they may be seeking from cigarettes, caffeine or binge eating, a small study found. See article.
g Message - The earliest speculations about communication with extraterrestrial intelligence involved contact with the Moon and with other planets of our own solar system. In the 1800s, many astronomers thought that — at least theoretically — life might well exist throughout the solar system. But when people raised the question of whether we are really alone in the solar system, they began to imagine ways to find a very concrete answer. See article.
g Cosmicus - The X Prize Foundation is seeking public comment on draft rules for a lunar lander contest set for later this year. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat site that allows you to make a star map of any patch of sky at any time.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read George Florance Guthridge’s "Taken on Faith," anthologized in “Alien Encounters,” (edited by Jan Finder).
g Aftermath - Scientists such as the SETI Institute’s John Billingham and Jill Tarter have taken the lead in planning for the day we might receive a signal from life beyond Earth. Working with diplomats and space lawyers, they have helped develop protocols that guide the activities of SETI scientists who think they may have detected extraterrestrial intelligence. See article. Note: This story is a couple of years old.

Read this blogger’s books

Orbiting planets head in opposite directions and New Mexico spaceport deal inked

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 developing star has been found to have two disks of material rotating in opposite directions. The discovery hints at a future solar system with planets going this way and that. See article.
g Abodes - Global warming events 420 million years ago, comparable to those currently beginning to affect our planet, may have caused catastrophic environmental changes in an ancient ocean, threatening the life that existed in it. See article.
gLife - a study published this week finally provides the first clear evidence that natural selection, his favored mechanism of evolution, drives the process of species formation in a wide variety of plants and animals. See article.
g Intelligence - People suffering generalized social phobia experience increased brain activity when confronted with threatening faces or frightening social situations, new research shows. See article.
g Message - In the absence of knowledge of physical and cultural clues, communication between two species can be almost impossible — almost. See article.
g Cosmicus - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has signed new pieces of legislation—bills that push forward work on New Mexico’s spaceport. In addition, the state has set in motion a potential investment deal to attract a space entrepreneurial firm to work in the area. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat Web site to help kids (or even adults) better understand the night sky: “Your Sky,” an interactive planetarium. You can produce maps in the forms described below for any time and date, viewpoint, and observing location. If you enter the orbital elements of an asteroid or comet, Your Sky will compute its current position and plot it on the map. Each map is accompanied by an ephemeris for the Sun, Moon, planets, and any tracked asteroid or comet. A control panel permits customization of which objects are plotted, limiting magnitudes, color scheme, image size and other parameters. See article.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read James E. Gunn’s “The Listeners,” published by Scribner's in 1972.
g Aftermath - Communicating with Aliens, Part IV: How might interested parties envisage the design of a human team to prepare for an encounter with aliens — and improve the operational guidelines for that eventuality? See article.

Read this blogger’s books

High-energy radiation, mammals among dinosaurs and future Shenzhou missions

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 - Cosmic space is filled with continuous, diffuse high-energy radiation. To find out how this energy is produced, the scientists behind ESA’s Integral gamma-ray observatory have tried an unusual method: observing Earth from space. See article.
g Abodes - The two moons discovered around Pluto last year were likely formed from the same giant impact that created the planet’s much larger satellite, Charon, scientists say. See article. For related story, see “New Hubble images offer best view of Pluto, moons”.
g Life - Newfound remains of a beaver-like creature suggest that mammals swam with dinosaurs. See article.
g Intelligence - As you age, so do your cells. A new study reveals that old cells make up a much larger portion of skin cells than previously thought. See article.
g Message - Is anyone out there? The chance of spotting signals from extraterrestrials is about to soar, say SETI Institute scientists, who, together with radio astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley have begun building the first telescope to look around the clock for life on other planets. See article.
g Cosmicus - Chinese space planners have outlined the objectives for the next several missions of their piloted Shenzhou missions. Next up is Shenzhou 7, China’s third human spaceflight that will liftoff in 2008 and include a space walk. See article.
g Learning - Here’s a neat introduction to constellations to help get kids interested in stargazing.
g Imagining - Skull Island’s commendably diverse population (of “King Kong” fame) isn’t very realistic. In such isolated habitats, competition among species is limited. The consequence is that, with time, predator species tend to get smaller while prey species grow larger. The optimum size (at least for mammals) seems to be roughly that of a rabbit. Kong is bigger than many rabbits. See article.
g Aftermath - Scientists should pay greater attention to discussing the social implications of discovering extraterrestrial life — even though many researchers shy away from the subject because they don't consider it "hard" science. See article.

Read this blogger’s books

Measuring a million stars, chicken with teeth and three shuttle flights

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Today’s news:
g Stars - An international team of astronomers released to the public the first data collected as part of the Radial Velocity Experiment, an ambitious spectroscopic survey aimed at measuring the speed, temperature, surface gravity and composition of up to a million stars passing near the sun. see http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/
2006/02/060212181916.htm.
g Abodes - University of Minnesota and Stony Brook University researchers have modeled the properties of rocks at the temperatures and pressures likely to exist at the cores of Jupiter, Saturn and two exoplanets far from the solar system. They show that rocks in these environments are different from those on Earth and have metallic-like electric and thermal conductivity. These properties can produce different terrestrial-type planets, with longer-lasting magnetic fields, enhanced heat flow to the planetary surfaces and, consequently, more intense "planetquake" and volcanic activity. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload
&name=News&file=article&sid=1877mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Life - Scientists have discovered that rarest of things: a chicken with teeth - crocodile teeth to be precise. See http://www.science
daily.com/releases/2006/02/060223083601.htm.
g Intelligence - Some 50 million U.S. residents live with chronic pain, experts estimate. Pain forces an estimated 36 million of them to miss work every year and results in roughly 70 million doctor visits. Yet scientists know very little about how pain works. They can't even agree on a definition. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060131_pain_truths.html.
g Message - Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is helping fund a SETI project that will distill space noise, better search for alien life, and help understand the cosmos. See http://www.technologyreview.
com/articles/05/02/wo/wo_dollarhide022305.aspp=1.
g Cosmicus - If NASA can get the shuttle Discovery off the ground on the second post-Columbia mission this spring or summer, the agency will have a realistic shot at launching three flights this year, program manager Wayne Hale told reporters today. See http://www.spaceflight
now.com/shuttle/sts121/060228halebriefing/.
g Learning - Here’s a neat primer to telescopes for backyard viewing of the night sky, brought to up by a facility that has been involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence: http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/public/viewtels.html.
g Imagining - Like first contact stories? Then be sure to read Scott G. Gier’s “Genellan: Planetfall,” published by Del Rey in 1995.
g Aftermath - What if, one day, Earth was contacted by an extraterrestrial civilization? How, as a planet, would we respond to their offer to interact? What if they asked, “Do you have a method in place, or even a policy that outlines how Earth will proceed now that contact has happened?” Here’s an organization that we believes we need in place legal protocol and has proposed the “Extraterrestrial Contact Act.” See http://www.contactact.org/index.htm.