Quasars defined, liquid water on planets and secretive commercial space venture

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - In the distant, young universe, quasars shine with a brilliance unmatched by anything in the local cosmos. Although they appear star-like in optical telescopes, quasars are actually the bright centers of galaxies located billions of light-years from Earth. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/25quasar/.
g Abodes - One of the fundamental requirements for life as we know it is the presence of liquid water on (or below) a planet’s surface. See http://astrobiology.arc.nasa.gov/palebluedot/abstracts/kasting.html.
g Life - Once upon a time, a 2-ton wombat lumbered across the Australian Outback. Around the same time, mammoths and saber-toothed tigers had the California coastline all to themselves. Millions of years before any of these animals existed, Tyrannosaurus rex and other colossal dinosaurs ruled the world. These and some of the other largest and most fantastic creatures ever to walk the planet are long gone, victims of mass extinctions of large beasts. And for reasons poorly understood, often the animals to fill the voids were tiny by comparison. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060718_big_animals.html.
g Intelligence - Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes humans human. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060721182137.htm.
g Message - Dan Werthimer, director of the SERENDIP SETI program and chief scientist of SETI@home at the University of California Berkeley, predicts we’ll make first contact with an alien civilization in 50-100 years. See http://www.astroseti.org/danweng.php. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - Plans for a secretive commercial space venture backed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos were coming under public review Tuesday at a government hearing. See http://www.space.com/news/ap_060725_bezosplan_public.html.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity courtesy of DiscoverSchool.com: “Extraterrestrials.” In the activity, a digital radio message, intended to alert any intelligent life in space to the existence of intelligent life on Earth, has been electronically transmitted into space by the Arecibo radio dish in Puerto Rico. Students must ensure the message is effective by showing that the senders (humans from Earth) are capable of advanced thinking — but it must not depend on the ability of extraterrestrials to understand any Earth language. See http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/
programs/extraterrestrials.rtfprograms/extraterrestrials.rtf.
g Imagining - Britain's Manchester Evening News termed it a hoax that "fooled the world." Well, not exactly: Skeptical Inquirer magazine was on to the 1995 "Alien Autopsy" film from the outset. But now the reputed creator of the fake extraterrestrial corpse used for the "autopsy" has publicly confessed. See http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060507_alien_autopsy.html.
g Aftermath - Book alert: Science fiction writers have given us many fine novels contemplating humankind's first contact with intelligent extraterrestrials. But our nonfiction world has not thought much about what to do if we are actually faced with this situation. In “Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” Jean Heidmann, chief astronomer at the Paris Observatory (and self-styled bioastronomer), offers a book on the subject that is at once serious and fun. Heidmann's obvious joy in raw speculation - all of it grounded in real science - is contagious. If aliens send us a message from many light years away, for example, how should we respond? Heidmann reviews the protocols established in the SETI Declaration and then offers his own suggestion: send them the entire contents of the Encyclopedia Britannica. See http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521585635/102-7953720-3747358?n=283155.

Protoworlds slowing infant star, computer simulations for Earth-like planets and ‘Star Trek’ biology

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have found evidence that dusty disks of planet-forming material tug on and slow down the young, whirling stars they surround. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/25spitzerdisks/.
g Abodes - The steady discovery of giant planets orbiting stars other than our sun has heightened speculation that there could be Earth-type worlds in nearby planetary systems capable of sustaining life. Now researchers running computer simulations for four nearby systems that contain giant planets about the size of Jupiter have found one that could have formed an Earth-like planet with the right conditions to support life. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/mod
ules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2033mode=thread&
order=0&thold=0.
g Life - A new study finds that invasive cane toads are using roads to hasten their spread across the continent. The toads take shelter overnight close to the open corridors, then hit the road each evening to continue on their destructive way. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060717_toad_roads.html.
g Intelligence - An evolutionary arms race between early snakes and mammals triggered the development of improved vision and large brains in primates, a radical new theory suggests. See http://www.
livescience.com/animalworld/060721_snake_primate.html.
g Message - Interstellar transmissions via energy-markers (photons) or matter-markers (probes) appear to be energetically indistinguishable alternatives for advanced technical societies. Since only Type II and Type III civilizations realistically can afford beacons or star probe technology, alternative distinguishability criteria suggest the possible superiority of intelligent artifacts for contact and communication missions among extraterrestrial cultures. A balanced, more cost-effective Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence strategy is needed. See http://www.rfreitas.com/Astro/InterstellarProbesJBIS1980.htm.
g Cosmicus - With Discovery back on Earth, NASA is confident the orbiter can be turned around in time for a December 2006 launch, though ground crews have their work cut out for them to redress the orbiter for that STS-116 mission. See http://www.space.com/
missionlaunches/060719_shuttle_shuffle.html. For additional story, see “NASA Readies Space Station Trusses for Next Shuttle Launch” at http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ft_060721_sts115_trusses.html.
g Learning - Girls steer away from careers in math, science and engineering because they view science as a solitary rather than a social occupation, according to a University of Michigan psychologist. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050511134757.htm.
g Imagining - Book alert: Browse the local used bookstores for this volume, which examined the scientific plausibility of many alien creatures in “Star Trek”: “To Seek Out New Life: The Biology of Star Trek.” Published about four years ago, Athena Andreadis' book makes a good read, boosted by her background as a molecular biologist and neurosurgeon. There’s a review of the book at http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/sf_and_society/48298.
g Aftermath - How will an alien visit influence the world’s religions? Here’s one common man’s view at http://www.123infinity.com/extraterrestrial_life.html.

Planetary building blocks, METI and suborbital tourism

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - By linking a trio of telescopes, astronomers have obtained unprecedented detail of old red giant stars. The stars had an unexplained patchy brightness that could be caused by orbiting planets. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=
modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2032mode=thread
&order=0&thold=0.
g Abodes - Scientists are getting their best understanding yet of the makeup of comets - not only of the materials inside these planetary building blocks, but also of the way they could have formed around the Sun in the solar system's earliest years. See http://www.astrobio
.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid
=2024mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - The secret weapon of bacteria - the way they get a foothold in plants to launch an invasion - is less of a secret, according to research published by Michigan State University scientists. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060714103143.htm.
g Intelligence - Is it just coincidence that Bobby Bonds and his son Barry both made baseball history with their all-star power and speed? Or that Francis Ford Coppola and daughter Sofia rose to fame as award winning film directors? Questions like these have long plagued psychologists, geneticists and philosophers. Coined nature versus nurture, it is one of the great mysteries of the mind, and much research has focused on the relative role of genes and the environment in determining everything from athleticism to personality to a person's predisposition to obesity.
See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060718_
nature_nurture.html.
g Message - We’ve all heard of SETI, bit what about METI — “Messaging to Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” or sending both scientific and artistic messages to the stars? See http://lnfm1.sai.msu.ru/SETI/koi/articles/METIArt.htm.
g Cosmicus - Virgin Galactic, a Virgin Group company, has sold some 200 tickets to passengers for suborbital flights, starting in 2008. See http://www.space.com/news/ap_060718_virgin_update.html.
g Learning - Here’s a good Web site that gives an general overview of astrobiology for kids: “Astrocentral.” See http://www.astrocentral.co.uk/lifeindex.html.
g Imagining - Book alert: "Extraterrestrials, Where Are They?" by Ben Zuckerman and Michael H. Hart (ed.) offers a critical analysis by leading experts in a range of sciences, of the plausibility that other intelligent life forms do exists. Exploration of the solar system, and observations with telescopes that probe deep space, have come up empty-handed in searches for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Many experts in the fields of astronomy, biology, chemistry and physics now argue that the evidence points to the conclusion that technological civilizations are rare. After 10 billion years and among hundreds of billions of stars, we may well possess the most advanced brains in the Milky Way. This second edition elucidates many new aspects of research on extraterrestrial intelligence life, specifically biological considerations of the question. For more reviews, see http://www.amazings.com/sbb/reviews/review0051.html.
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 http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_protocols_010228.html. Note: This story is a couple of years old.

Evolutionary drivers, exobiology in textbooks and political significance of announcing discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Newly detected dust found around the burst remains of a dead star could help reveal how planets and stars formed and how life began. See http://www.space.com/includes/iab.html?url=/scienceastronomy/060724_1987a_dust.html.
g Abodes - Slow moving "silent" earthquakes that last on the order of weeks to months could be useful for predicting when more destructive temblors will strike, See http://www.livescience.com
/forcesofnature/060705_silent_quakes.html.
g Life - Could a predatory relationship between two ancient species reveal an early driving force of evolution? Absolutely, according to Mark Wilson, professor of geology at The College of Wooster, and Paul Taylor of The Natural History Museum in London. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712232259.htm.
g Intelligence - In the second it takes you to read these words, tens of thousands of vesicles in your optic nerves are released in sequence, opening tiny surface pores to pass chemical signals to the next cell down the line, telling your brain what you're seeing and your eyes where to move. Thanks to two new studies – including one spearheaded by an undergraduate biochemistry student at Rice University and published online by Nature Structural and Molecular Biology – scientists have defined the function of a key protein that nerve cells use to pass information quickly. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060716215924.htm.
g Message - In 2001, California astronomers broadened the search for extraterrestrial intelligence with a new experiment to look for powerful light pulses beamed our way from other star systems. Scientists from the University of California's Lick Observatory, the SETI Institute, UC-Santa Cruz, and UC-Berkeley used the Lick Observatory's 40-inch Nickel Telescope with a new pulse-detection system capable of finding laser beacons from civilizations many light-years distant. Unlike other optical SETI searches, this new experiment is largely immune to false alarms that slow the reconnaissance of target stars. See article.
g Cosmicus - Astronauts who travel in space are at risk for bone loss in much the same way that cancer patients who receive radiation therapy are, and both groups are more likely to develop fractures than the general population. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/mod
ules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2025
mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Although exobiology is of widespread interest to high school science students, it is not generally dealt with comprehensively in most textbooks. In addition, teachers often have inadequate resources available to prepare classroom presentations on how life may have begun on Earth and whether these processes might take place elsewhere in the solar system and the universe. Here’s a classroom teaching module suitable for use in both general and advanced high school biology courses: See http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/astro/html/Exobiology.html.
g Imagining - Watch the film "Alien vs. Predator” (http://www.avp-movie.com/) and you might feel there was little left to lose in seeing "Exorcist: The Beginning" (http://exorcistthebeginning.warnerbros.com/). As it happens, both movies, although undeniably bad, are thought provoking. Humans have a longstanding fascination with powerful, malevolent entities, whether extraterrestrial or supernatural, and the existence of such entities, however farfetched in its cinematic presentation, is a fair topic for inquiry and speculation. See http://www.techcentralstation.com/082704F.html.
g Aftermath - How might we characterize the political significance of any announcement of discovering extraterrestrial intelligence? How about using the Torino Scale, which characterizes asteroid impacts, as a model to assist the discussion and interpretation of any claimed discovery of ETI? See http://64.233.167.104/searchq=cache:
BuuaRaF64gUJ:www.konkoly.hu/staff/almar/almar_rio.doc+"Interpret
ing+and+Reporting+on+a+SETI+discovery"&hl=en.

Get your SF book manuscript edited

How many extraterrestrial civilizations exist in our galaxy, suborbital rocket shots for sale and the Pak of “Ringworld”

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - NASA scientists have determined that the formation of clouds is affected by the lightness or darkness of air pollution particles. This also impacts Earth's climate. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060714082130.htm.
g Life - Like modern long-living birds and mammals, T. rex and other tyrannosaur species experienced high mortality rates as infants and young adults, with just a choice few surviving to maturity. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060713_dino_lives.html.
g Intelligence - Consumer preferences for a brand can be increased over the competition by techniques used to manipulate memory. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060715104358.htm.
g Message - How many extraterrestrial civilizations exist in our galaxy? Frank Drake's now-famous equation makes an educated guess. Check out this video on the topic and make your own guess. See http://space.com/ and look for “Multimedia.”
g Cosmicus - Business is on the upswing for UP Aerospace—a firm that is offering suborbital rocket shots of experimental payloads out of the Southwest Regional Spaceport site in New Mexico. See http://www.space.com/news/060715_upaerospace_update.html.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity that examines if yeast, a common yet tenacious microbe, can survive boiling water, salt, UV radiation and citric acid? Students find out for themselves by creating "Planets in a Bottle" which illustrate extreme conditions on other worlds. See http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/msad16mar99_1a.htm.
g Imagining - Could the Pak of Larry Niven's Ringworld universe possibly evolve? They've got a homepage to discuss that and other questions about the intriguing fiction alien race. See http://www1.tip.nl/~t619162/pak.htm.
g Aftermath - Some of the best discussion of the consequences of alien contact occurs in science fiction. Here’s a novel that ranks among the most important in that dialogue: Arthur C. Clark’s “Songs of a Distant Earth.” Look for it at your library or local used book store.

Stars in infrared, Mars’ soil and mistaken assumptions about SETI

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - British astronomers are releasing the first data from the largest and most sensitive survey of the heavens in infrared light to scientists across Europe. The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey has completed the first of seven years of data collection, studying objects that are too faint to see at visible wavelengths, such as very distant or very cool objects. New data on young galaxies is already challenging current thinking on galaxy formation, revealing galaxies that are massive at a much earlier stage of development than expected. These first science results already show how powerful the full survey will be at finding rare objects that hold vital clues to how stars and galaxies in our universe formed. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060721120535.htm.
g Abodes - The answer to the question about life on Mars may very well come from analyzing an unsuspecting source - the soil, specifically the icy layer of soil underneath the Red Planet's surface. By analyzing the properties of Mars' frozen layer of soil during NASA's next lander mission, scientists will be able to better understand and theorize about life on Mars. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713090827.htm. For related story, see “Life on Mars? A Timeline of the Debate” at http://www.spacedaily.com/2004/040123173004.po61yma6.html
g Life - For the first time scientists have observed in real-time evolutionary changes in one species driven by competition for resources from another. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060713_darwin_finch.html.
g Intelligence - Without realizing it, people will perceive things according to how they want to see them, a new study suggests. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060714_see_believe.html.
g Message - Some people mistakenly confuse a long search with a thorough one, and figure that the lack of a SETI detection indicates that we’re alone in the galaxy. This, however, is nonsense. See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_thursday_060720.html.
g Cosmicus - Space shuttle Atlantis will move closer to its first flight in almost four years when the orbiter is hauled into Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building at sunrise Monday. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts115/status.html.
g Learning - More than half a century of U.S. dominance in science and engineering may be slipping as America's share of graduates in these fields falls relative to Europe and developing nations such as China and India, a study says. See http://www./rednova.com/news/
science/168513/us_losing_lead_in_science_and_engineering/
index.html.
g Imagining - Could the legendary dragons of Pern from Anne McCaffrey’s famous science fiction novels actually exist? Welcome to the theoretical science of dracogenetics. See http://www.geocities.com/jenaith/DNA1.html.
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 http://www.astrobio.net/news/article163.html.

Venus’ cool clouds, language emergence and Martian probe swarms

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Earth's twin, Venus, offers life as we know it few safe places on its faint red-glowing surface, which is hot enough to melt lead. But higher in the clouds, small amounts of water and strange ultraviolet absorbers make for a balmy 107 F abode. The Principal Investigator for NASA's Planetary Atmospheres and Venus Data Analysis Program speculates about what might surprise Venusian explorers. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/article410.html.
g Life - Scientists have discovered that parasites are surprisingly important in food webs. According to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, parasites may be the thread that holds the structure of ecological communities together. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=
News&file=article&sid=2021mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - New research findings from the world's largest study predicting children's late language emergence has revealed that parents are not to blame for late talking toddlers. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713090947.htm.
g Message - The 37th annual Mutual UFO Network symposium is being held this weekend in Denver, attracting throngs of believers, the downright curious—as well as upright skeptics and debunkers. See http://www.space.com/news/060714_ufo_conference.html.
g Cosmicus - MIT engineers and scientist colleagues have a new vision for the future of Mars exploration: a swarm of probes, each the size of a baseball, spreading out across the planet in every direction. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/18marsminiprobes/.
g Learning - Here’s a neat interactive Web site for kids: “Are Humans All Alone in the Universe?” In the program, kids get to search for ET — and learn some principles of science along the way. See http://jvsc.jst.go.jp/universe/et_e/index_e.htm.
g Imagining - Science fiction authors produce a lot of very strange critters. In the desperate dash to be different, many go way overboard to invent fantastic, outlandish species unlike anything anyone has ever seen. It’s an admirable expression of their artistic abilities, but there’s an inherent problem: they almost always lose the reader along the way. Sure, it sounds ultra-cool to have a whole herd of 80-foot quasi-limbed orb-stasis beings, but unless you draw me a picture of these things, the reader often has no idea what you’re talking about. However, if you write that your alien has four wings, 10 eyes and looks a little like a kangaroo, the reader is right there with you. Most readers need at least something familiar to draw on for their imagination, or they get lost. See http://fmwriters.com/Visionback/Issue10/themealiens.htm.
g Aftermath - In a cross-cultural study conducted several years ago, to scientists looked at the attitudes of college students towards the possibility that extraterrestrial life might exist, and if it does, what it might be like for people to learn that it exists. See http://publish.seti.org/general/articles.php?id=54. Note: This article is from 2002.

White dwarf supernova, Earth-like features found on Titan and moon-landing anniversary

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - On Feb. 12, skygazers spotted a nova that appeared when a faint star brightened dramatically, becoming visible to the unaided eye. The cause of the brightening was a thermonuclear explosion that blasted off a white dwarf star's outer layers while leaving the core unscathed. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/19nova/.
g Abodes - New radar images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft revealed geological features similar to Earth on Xanadu, an Australia-sized, bright region on Saturn's moon Titan. See http://www.astrobio.
net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid
=2027mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Biogeographers have long recognized that the spatial distribution of plant species, at a coarse resolution, mainly reflects each species’ climatic requirements. However, few studies have carefully matched maps of a species distribution with maps of climatic variables to see where climate may fail to predict a species distribution, thus suggesting other ecological factors, such as limited seed dispersal or competition with other species. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712234922.htm.
g Intelligence - Scientists at The University of Manchester are to build a new type of computer which mimics the complex interactions within the human brain. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713080012.htm.
g Message - The Earth is at the center of an expanding bubble of electromagnetic radiation. The bubble, expanding at the speed of light, contains all of the man-made electromagnetic transmissions of the earth - radio, TV, radar, and so on. In theory, an alien civilization could receive these signals, and form their opinion about the earth by analyzing them. To most people, it is quite discouraging to think that some alien civilization would form their opinion of Earth based upon our situation comedies. Upon a slightly deeper analysis, the conventional wisdom says, “Aliens might detect our TV signals, but at least they can't form their opinion of our civilization from our TV transmissions. Decoding the transmission is so much harder than detecting it that we don't need to worry about this.” But an editor of the book “SETI 2020” argues that this view considerably underestimates the technologies that aliens might employ. By looking at likely technical improvements - better receivers and feeds, bigger antenna, signal processing, and perhaps stellar focusing, any civilization that can detect our radiations might well be able to decode it as well. Thus aliens can form their impression of Earth from “I Love Lucy.” See http://contactincontext.org/cic/v2i1/lucy.pdf.
g Cosmicus - 37 Years ago, two Americans stepped on the Moon. Although alone when they planted our flag, they did not claim it for themselves or even this nation, instead, they proclaimed they were there on behalf of the entire human race. Although their mission was a symbolic gesture of dominance in a Cold War that was a battle for control of Earth, our emissaries to the small grey island next door in space made it clear their triumph was not of one nation, but of our entire species. See http://www.space.com/adastra/adastra_heroes_060720.html.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity: “Pin the Microbe on the Map.” In this variation of "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," students find locations on a world map that match the homes of extreme-loving microbes. Students will also give creative nicknames to real life extremophiles that summarize their characteristics and living environments. See http://www.thursdaysclassroom.com/09sep99/teach6.htmlteach6.html.
g Imagining - If alien lifeforms did arrive on Earth, what might they look like? Contemporary images of alien lifeforms differ significantly from previous ones. See http://www.nap.edu/books/030907309X/html/67.html.
g Aftermath - In the last quarter of the twentieth century, an international social movement — Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence — has emerged which advocates an attempt to achieve communication with extraterrestrial intelligence, and many of its most active members have been leading scientists. Modest efforts to detect radio signals from intelligent extraterrestrials already have been made, both under government aegis and privately funded, and the technical means for a more vigorous search have been developed. If a CETI project were successful, linguists would suddenly have one or more utterly alien languages to study, and some consideration of linguistic issues is a necessary preparation for it. See http://mysite.verizon.net/wsbainbridge/dl/ceti.htm.

Life on extra-solar planets, silk threads on the wind and Gene Box

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Could life exist on discovered extra-solar planets? See http://www.astro.rug.nl/~onderwys/sterIIproject97/kleefman/.
g Life - Researchers have developed a new model that explains how spiders are able to 'fly' or 'parachute' into new territory on single strands of silk – sometimes covering distances of hundreds of miles over open ocean. By casting a thread of silk into the breeze spiders are able to ride wind currents away from danger or to parachute into new areas. Often they travel a few meters but some spiders have been discovered hundreds of miles out to sea. Researchers have now found that in turbulent air the spiders' silk moulds to the eddies of the airflow to carry them further. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712073430.htm.
g Intelligence - A multi-institutional team of researchers has found that people with long-standing, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movement and these signals can be detected, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and converted into actions - enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713081901.htm.
g Message - Should we modify the Drake Equation to account for civilizations which actually engage in deliberate interstellar transmission? See http://lnfm1.sai.msu.ru/SETI/koi/articles/DrakeEquation.htm.
g Cosmicus - A NASA shoebox-size payload called “GeneBox” is now orbiting Earth as a passenger inside Bigelow Corporation's one-third scale, inflatable Genesis 1 test spacecraft. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/18genebox/.
g Learning - Studies have long shown that boys in the United States and around the world do not read or write as well as girls. A new study finds that the problem cuts across socioeconomic lines and pins part of the blame squarely on schools, whose techniques cater to the strengths of girls and leave boys utterly disinterested. See http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060718_illiterate_boys.html.
g Imagining - Are there any alternatives to DNA or RNA, as an “X-Files” episode said there was? See http://nai.nasa.gov/nai2005/abstracts/1018%20-%20NAI05AbstractAegis.doc.pdf.
g Aftermath - With humanity now on the verge of being capable to leave its home world, Earth, scientists have begun to wrestle with the consequences of this next great journey; of the social impact humanity will have upon discovering life elsewhere, be it fossil, bacterial or an intelligent civilization. See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/astro_biology_991119.html. Note: This article is from 1999.

Venus Express, jellyfish explosion and planet-hunting spacecraft cuts

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - A long observation with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory revealed important new details of a neutron star that is spewing out a wake of high-energy particles as it races through space. The deduced location of the neutron star on the edge of a supernova remnant, and the peculiar orientation of the neutron star wake, pose mysteries that remain unresolved. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/06/060601212933.htm.
g Abodes - On April 20, after its first 9-day, elongated orbit around Venus, ESA’s Venus Express started to get closer to the planet, until it reached its final 24-hour long orbit on May 7. During this time, and up to today, the spacecraft has been working relentlessly: the new data coming in are already providing first glimpses on planetary features never seen before. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060713081453.htm.
g Life - By sampling sea life in a heavily fished region off the coast of Namibia, researchers have found that jellyfish have actually overtaken fish in terms of the biomass they contribute to this ocean region. The findings represent a careful quantitative analysis of what's been called a "jellyfish explosion" after intense fishing in the area in the last few decades. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060711091411.htm.
g Intelligence - A study of people who suffer late-onset depression, defined as first emerging at age 60, showed that they did poorly on tests of executive function — that's the brain's ability to plan and control thoughts and actions. See http://www.livescience.com/human
biology/060712_depressing_thoughts.html.
g Message - A pioneer of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has warned that for any intelligent aliens trying to search for us, "the Earth is going to disappear" very soon. Frank Drake's point, made at a SETI workshop at Harvard University, is that television services are increasingly being delivered by technologies that do not leak radio frequencies into space. But he added that in some ways the observation is good news for SETI, as it means that the failure of Earth-based observers to detect aliens so far may be less worrisome than it would otherwise seem. See http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/viewnews.php?id=20078. Note: This article is from 2004.
g Cosmicus - With NASA deciding to press ahead with the SOFIA airborne astronomy observatory, another mission — an expensive planet-hunting spacecraft in development for more than a decade — is being scaled back to a mere technology-development program. See http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060710_business_monday.
html.
g Learning - One of the most frequently cited problems facing those who build and rely on space systems is a receding pool of engineering talent, a function of declining interest among young people in math and science. See http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_060717.html.
g Imagining - Here’s a neat Web site that examines the life cycle of the Alien — the extraterrestrial from said movie: http://www.brian-oshaughnessy.com/alien/life.html. It’s a little light on evolutionary speculation and discussing plausibility, but the life cycle is thoroughly described.
g Aftermath - How to predict reactions to receipt of evidence for an otherworldly intelligence? Some scientists argue that any unpredictable outcomes can only be judged against our own history. See http://seti.astrobio.net/news/article118.html.

First star, winter at Gusev Crater and Discovery returns home

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - For many millions of years after our universe first formed no stars existed, and then there was one. That primordial star was likely a massive blazing behemoth that burned brighter and faster than any star around today. A new computer model now suggests that it also formed much earlier than previously thought. See http://www.
space.com/scienceastronomy/060717_mm_first_star.html.
g Abodes - From its winter outpost at "Low Ridge" inside Gusev Crater, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit took this spectacular, color mosaic of hilly, sandy terrain and two potential iron meteorites. The two light-colored, smooth rocks about two-thirds of the way up from the bottom of the frame have been labeled "Zhong Shan" and "Allan Hills." See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop
=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2018mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Life - How is the deep sea like a desert island? It sounds like a child's riddle, but it's actually a serious scientific question with implications for both terrestrial and marine biology. Biologists have long observed that when animals colonize and evolve on isolated islands, small animals tend to become larger while large animals tend to become smaller. Recent research suggests that a similar trend affects animals as they adapt to life in the deep sea. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060710164527.htm.
g Intelligence - People who live by themselves are at twice the risk of serious heart problems compared to those who have a partner. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060712_lonely_hearts.html.
g Message - Looking for life elsewhere is a tough task for human or robot. The good news is that the scientific skill and tools to search for, detect and inspect extraterrestrial life are advancing rapidly. See http://www.space.com/searchforlife/lifesigns_spots_020103.html.
g Cosmicus - Space shuttle Discovery touched down at 9:14 a.m. EDT on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15, breaking through clouds covering the Florida spaceport on final approach. The crew had to change runways late in the descent due to dramatically developing weather in the path to the original runway selection. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/status.html.
g Learning - What are university students learning about astrobiology? Check out "An Introduction to Astrobiology." Compiled by a team of experts, this textbook has been designed for elementary university courses in astrobiology. It begins with an examination of how life may have arisen on Earth and then reviews the evidence for possible life on Mars, Europa and Titan. The potential for life in exoplanetary systems and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence are also discussed. The text contains numerous useful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. It is also supported by a Web site hosting further teaching materials. Written in an accessible style that avoids complex mathematics, this book is suitable for self-study and will appeal to amateur enthusiasts as well as undergraduate students. It contains numerous helpful learning features such as boxed summaries, student exercises with full solutions, and a glossary of terms. The book is also supported by a Website hosting further teaching materials. See http://www.sci
encedaily./com/cgibin/apf4/amazon_products_feed.cgiOpera
tion=ItemLookup&ItemId=0521546214.
g Imagining - Like short stories about alien biology? Larry Niven’s “Eye of an Octopus” examines how Martians might have existed in an atmosphere of nitric oxide. The story is collected in Niven’s “Tales of Known Space: The Universe of Larry Niven.” See http://www.google.com/searchhl=en&q=E2809CTales+of+Known+
Space3A+The+Universe+of+Larry+Niven".
g Aftermath - In order to retrieve samples from another place in the solar system that might harbor life, careful planning is required to ensure that mission designs incorporate measures to safeguard both the Earth and other solar system bodies from cross contamination. These measures, collectively known as planetary protection measures, are actually tied to international law. See http://www.astrobiology.com/adastra/bring.em.back.html. Note: This article is from 1999.

Earth’s ever-changing climate, NASA’s next shuttle flight and aspiring satellite researchers

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - From 1850 to the 1970s, glaciers in the European Alps lost about 35 percent of their area. The melting then sped up, and now the 5,150 glaciers cover about 50 percent of the area they did in 1850. See http://www.livescience.com/environment/060710_europe_alps.html. For related story, see “Centuries Of Land-use Practices Profoundly Impact Earth System, Scientists Report” at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060714082253.htm.
g Life - When Yuri Gorby discovered that a microbe which transforms toxic metals can sprout tiny electrically conductive wires from its cell membrane, he reasoned this anatomical oddity and its metal-changing physiology must be related. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060710181540.htm.
g Intelligence - Scientists find that moms consistently rank the stink of their baby's "number two" as No. 1. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060712_baby_poop.html.
g Cosmicus - NASA and the Russian space agency are discussing launch options that almost certainly will shorten the launch window for the agency's next shuttle flight. It now is expected to open Aug. 27 or 28 and may close a week or so earlier than planned because of a requirement to provide time for the station crew to sleep shift between the departure of a U.S. space shuttle and the arrival of a Russian Soyuz capsule. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060714sts115soyuz/.
g Learning - Thanks to Student Hands-on Training workshops, aspiring satellite researchers can trial-run payload ideas by getting a lift from skyward-soaring balloons. SHOT activities are ongoing at the NASA-funded Colorado Space Grant Consortium at the University of Colorado. See http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/060712_shot_education.html.

Meteor explosion, the power of sleep and inflatable space habitats

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - A meteor explosion was recorded over the Oslo Fjord area of Norway last month, Aftenposten reported Friday. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.phpfeed=Science&article=
UPI12006071500350700bcnorwaymeteor.xml.
g Life - The high-pitched whine of a mosquito might drive you nuts, but it's music to the ears of these little pests. See http://www.
livescience.com/animalworld/060710_mosquito_buzz.html.
g Intelligence - Researchers have uncovered new evidence that sleep improves the brain's ability to remember information. Their findings demonstrate that memories of recently learned word pairs are improved if sleep intervenes between learning and testing and that this benefit is most pronounced when memory is challenged by competing information. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases
/2006/07/060711095912.htm.
g Cosmicus - The mission of Bigelow Aerospace's revolutionary prototype space habitat launched Wednesday has gone smoothly through its first day in orbit. The program's founder said the success achieved so far has been an exhilarating experience for his team before they set off to begin a comprehensive testing regimen on the inflatable space station pathfinder. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0607/14bigelow/.

Tiniest components of matter, saving neurons from dying and Leonardo logistics module

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - What if the tiniest components of matter were somehow different from the way they exist now, perhaps only slightly different or maybe a lot? What if they had been different from the moment the universe began in the Big Bang? Would matter as we know it be the same? Would humans even exist? See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712075407.htm.
g Abodes - California's Sierra Nevada, an impressive mountain range that includes the popular Yosemite National Park, has done a great job of keeping its age a secret. But now a new study provides evidence that it's at least 40 million years old. See http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060706_sierra_nevada.html.
g Life - When pronghorn antelope find a route they like, they stick to it. The animals have been making the same difficult trek between Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks for at least 6,000 years, a new study shows. However, continued development of lands outside the parks and along the route could disturb it, endangering the pronghorn population and potentially disturbing the Yellowstone ecosystem. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060710_
pronghorn_migration.html.
g Intelligence - Scientists at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have found a protein in the brain that can save neurons from dying after experiencing traumatic brain injury from incidents such as stroke, car accidents and falls. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2006/07/060711132311.htm.
g Cosmicus - The Discovery astronauts closed up the Leonardo logistics module today and geared up to detach it from the space station and re-install in the shuttle's cargo bay for return to Earth. With undocking from the station on tap Saturday, shuttle pilot Mark Kelly said the crew has accomplished virtually all of the mission's objectives, clearing the way for station assembly to resume this fall. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060714fd11/.

Atomic oxygen calling card, hot dinos and learning language

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Kent State faculty and graduate students are among a team of physicists who recreated the material essence of the universe as it would have been mere microseconds after the Big Bang—a quark-gluon plasma. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/
07/060712180328.htm.
g Abodes - Atomic oxygen could never be confused with expensive perfume. But just as a fragrance lingering in the air of an empty room offers hints about a previous occupant, the cloud of oxygen the Cassini spacecraft encountered as it first approached Saturn turned out to be a calling card from another celestial presence, the tiny moon Enceladus. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop
=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2014mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Life - A new study helps answer a longstanding dinosaur mystery by revealing that the largest dinosaurs could likely maintain warm body temperatures while their smaller cousins were probably more similar to modern cold-blooded reptiles. See http://www.livescience.com/
animalworld/060710_dinosaur_temperature.html.
g Intelligence - Experience, as the old saying goes, is the best teacher. And experience seems to play an important early role in how infants learn to understand and produce language. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060710164301.htm.
g Message - Is there life "out there"? If so, is it intelligent life? One way we can address the issue is to make a reasoned guess, based upon everything we know about astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, and a host of other disciplines. Many years ago the radio astronomer Frank Drake did just this, combining all the "knowledge" in the form of a mathematical equation now named for him: The Drake Equation. See http://www.physics.uc.edu/~sitko/Spring
00/10CHZs/chzs_planets.html.
g Cosmicus - NASA will test concepts for future space exploration next month by sending three astronauts and an oceanographer on a mission to an underwater laboratory off the coast of Florida. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=
News&file=article&sid=2017mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Learning - Some students "game" computer-based teaching programs (Intelligent Tutoring Systems, or ITS). New research at the USC Information Sciences Institute is looking at ways of predicting this behavior, and using such predictions to adapt the systems to fit individual student needs. Early results are promising. See http://
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060712233333.htm.

Different laws of physics, orbiting starshade and NASA puts behind Columbia tragedy

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Recent research has found evidence that the value of certain fundamental parameters, such as the speed of light or the invisible glue that holds nuclei together, may have been different in the past. See http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/06
0711_science_tuesday.html.
g Abodes - Orbiting starshade would block out light from parent stars, says University of Colorado study. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.htmlpid=20275.
g Life - After observing mountain gorillas in Uganda for nearly a year, scientists believe they have discovered why the animals eat decayed wood and lick tree stumps, behaviors that have puzzled primate researchers for decades. See http://www.livescience.
com/animalworld/060710_gorilla_sodium.html.
g Intelligence - To give your child an incentive to take out the garbage, you might offer to buy her a treat, or you might threaten to withhold her regular allowance. Does the child respond the same way to reward as it does to avoiding punishment? Psychologists have evidence from certain kinds of behavioral experiments to believe that avoiding punishment is itself a reward. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060710121622.htm.
g Cosmicus - The Discovery astronauts, working through a relatively relaxed day of space station equipment and supply transfers Tuesday, said the shuttle's trouble-free launch and lack of significant impact damage show NASA is finally ready to put the Columbia tragedy behind it. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060711fd8/.

Mysteries of the universe, habitability of our solar system, skeleton-transforming coral

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - For many stargazers, the night sky might look like a backdrop of very similar twinkling lights. But actually the billions of stars that make up the universe are varied and full of tantalizing marvels. From stellar fireworks caused by supernova explosions to invisible black holes, astronomers are gradually figuring out how stars work and what makes each variety unique. Many mysteries remain, however. See http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/top10_star_mysteries.html.
g Abodes - The production of chemically reactive oxidants on the surface of Mars and icy moons such as Europa may provide clues to their habitability and offers new avenues for future space exploration and the analysis of surface soil and ice shells, according to three special papers published in Astrobiology journal. See http://www.astrobiology.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=20277.
g Life - Leopards may not be able to change their spots, but corals can change their skeletons, building them out of different minerals depending on the chemical composition of the seawater around them. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060706095218.htm.
g Intelligence - Using unusually rigorous scientific conditions and measures, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the active agent in "sacred mushrooms" can induce mystical/spiritual experiences descriptively identical to spontaneous ones people have reported for centuries. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060711084914.htm.
g Cosmicus - Space station flight director Rick LaBrode sweated bullets going into today's spacewalk to fix a stalled robot arm transporter on the international lab complex. But months of planning, tests and simulations paid off with a successful repair job, clearing the way for resumption of station assembly. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060710eva2wrap/.

Saturn’s rings, mammoth hair coloring and Mars exploration after 2010

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - indirect evidence from X-ray telescopes has revealed telltale signs of thousands of black holes lurking in our own galaxy and beyond. Many are the remnants of exploded stars. But to other far more massive black holes, swallowing a single star is like Mount Everest absorbing a snowflake. See http://www.space.com/science
astronomy/060710_mystery_monday.html.
g Abodes - NASA Cassini spacecraft images of Saturn's diaphanous G and E rings are yielding new clues about their structure and formation. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060705171218.htm.
g Life - By examining DNA extracted from a mammoth bone frozen in Siberian permafrost and comparing it with sequences from other mammoth remains, researchers have concluded that the wooly creatures probably carried two versions of Mc1r, a gene whose protein product helps determine hair color in several mammals, including humans, mice, horses and dogs. See http://www.live
science.com/animalworld/060706_mammoth_hair.html.
g Intelligence - Scientists may have revealed the origin of the battle of the sexes—in our genes. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060707190114.htm.
g Cosmicus - NASA needs to rethink its Mars exploration plans after 2010 given new understandings about the red planet and likely funding levels in the coming years, according to a report just out from a panel of outside experts. See http://www.space.com/news/060706_mars_report.html.

Geothermal hot springs, new species of ancient aquatic reptile and practice shuttle repairs

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have successfully modeled the spectacular landscapes seen at geothermal hot springs. See http://www.sciencedaily.com
/releases/2006/07/060705182251.htm.
g Life - Scientists have identified a new species of ancient aquatic reptile that swam the seas when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. Dubbed Umoonasaurus, the creature lived in waters off the coast of what is now Australia 115 million years ago, when the continent was located much closer to Antarctica than it is now. See http://www.live
science.com/animalworld/060707_aquatic_reptile.html.
g Intelligence - Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060626_gay_brothers.html.
g Cosmicus - Astronaut Mike Fossum, anchored to the end of a 100-foot space crane positioned at one end of the space station's solar array truss, pretended to make heat shield repairs Saturday, measuring the forces imparted to the untried space crane to judge its stability as a repair platform. See http://www.spaceflightnow.
com/shuttle/sts121/060708eva1start/index3.html. For related story, see “Mission Update” at http://www.space.com/spaceshuttle/index.html.

What makes Earth habitable, crossing the impassable barrier, Discovery analysis continues

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - What makes Earth habitable? This LiveScience original video explores the science of global warming and explains how, for now, conditions here are just right. See http://www.livescience.com/php/video/player.php?video_id=GoldilocksGreen.
g Life - Reef fish share genetic connections across what Darwin termed an 'impassable barrier', 5000km of deep ocean separating the eastern and central Pacific, according to a report by Smithsonian scientists in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060705184842.htm.
g Intelligence - Animal Controlled Computer Games, a graduation project by Wim van Eck, is a Pac-Man-style game in which humans can play against real insects. The project has been written up in a short paper submitted to the 2006 International Conference on Entertainment. His project parallels part of the plot of “Ender's Game”, the Hugo and Nebula award-winning novel by Orson Scott Card. See http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/
060707_pacman_insects.html.
g Cosmicus - Engineers are still assessing the health of two leading edge panels on Discovery's right wing, along with a protruding gap filler just in front of a propellant feedline access door on the orbiter's belly. Mission Management Team Chairman John Shannon said Friday it might take another day or two before engineers can either give Discovery a clean bill of health or show the "regions of interest" represent potentially serious problems. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060707analysis/.

When Arctic ice formed, developing urban trees and Discovery heat shield OK

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Embedded in the heart of a supernova remnant 10,000 light-years away is a stellar object the likes of which astronomers have never seen before in our galaxy. See http://www.space.com/
scienceastronomy/060706_supernova_mystery.html.
g Abodes - Arctic ice formed about 45 million years ago – roughly 14 million years ahead of previous predictions – according to new research published in Nature. An international team of scientists, including Brown geologist Steven Clemens, says this startling evidence shows that glaciers formed in tandem at Earth’s poles, providing important insights into global climate change. See http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/geowissenschaften/bericht-60549.html. For related story, please see “Warming Climate Plays Large Role In Western U.S. Wildfires, Study Shows” at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060707093644.htm.
g Life - In an effort to improve the survival chances of urban trees, scientists have developed a cloning technique that allows oaks to develop their own root system rather than having growers painstakingly use the grafting method, which involves propagation by joining plant parts. See http://www.livescience.com/environment/
060706_designer_trees.html.
g Cosmicus - Preliminary assessment of the shuttle Discovery's heat shield after a dramatic end-over-end flip while approaching the international space station shows no signs of appreciable damage to the ship's fragile heat shield tiles from debris impacts during launch, officials said. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060706nodamage/.

Rising carbon dioxide’s effect on oceans, life living inside salt rock and brain spontaneously rewiring itself

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Worldwide emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning are dramatically altering ocean chemistry and threatening marine organisms, including corals, that secrete skeletal structures and support oceanic biodiversity. A landmark report released July 5 summarizes the known effects of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide on these organisms, known as marine calcifiers, and recommends future research for determining the extent of the impacts. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060705083057.htm.
g Life - After years of searching for evidence of microbial life in the driest region of Chile’s Atacama Desert, chemist Jacek Wierzchos finally found it. Living inside rocks made of salt. But how it manages to eke out a living there is still a bit of a mystery. See http://www.
astrobio.net/news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article
&sid=2013mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Intelligence - Doctors have their first proof that a man who was barely conscious for nearly 20 years regained speech and movement because his brain spontaneously rewired itself by growing tiny new nerve connections to replace the ones sheared apart in a car crash. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/ap_060705_coma.html.
g Cosmicus - The shuttle Discovery is closing in on the international space station today for a long-awaited linkup that will boost the lab's crew size to three, provide more than 5,000 pounds of equipment and supplies and give mission managers their first detailed view of the fragile heat shield tiles on the shuttle's belly. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060706debris/.

Martian desert varnish, Automated Transfer Vehicle and extraterrestrial ergonomics

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - New research reveals that the dark coating known as desert varnish creates a record of life around it, by binding traces of DNA, amino acids and other organic compounds to desert rocks. Samples of Martian desert varnish could therefore show whether there has been life on Mars at any stage over the last 4.5 billion years. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules
.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2012mode=thread&order
=0&thold=0.
g Cosmicus - Acoustic testing of Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), has successfully been completed at ESA's test facilities in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060703210043.htm.
g Learning - Here’s a neat classroom activity, courtesy of NASA: “Ergonomics For Extraterrestrials,” in which students develop an extraterrestrial life form, and to create a workstation that accommodates its unique characteristics. See http://www.nasaexplorers.com/show_912_teacher_st.php?id=030106130336.

Brown dwarf weather patterns, conversations on Mars and Discovery lifts off

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - Ever since their discovery 11 years ago, brown dwarfs have baffled scientists. First it was the question of how to categorize them. These celestial orbs are too massive to be a planet and not massive enough to be a star. Now scientists are investigating astonishing weather patterns on brown dwarfs that could rival Jupiter's Great Red Spot and even Earth's intense hurricanes.
See http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/060703_mystery
_monday.html.
g Abodes - It may be difficult for two people to have a conversation on Mars, according to a research paper by Penn State graduate student in acoustics Amanda Hanford and Lyle Long, professor of aerospace engineering. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/
modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2011mode=
thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Entrance fees to Utah's Bryce Canyon National Park will fund a two-year research study to survey and map the park's fossil sites. See http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/184870/4/.
g Intelligence - A study of the sleep characteristics of 669 middle-aged adults found that people sleep much less than they should, and even less than they think. Published in the July issue in the American Journal of Epidemiology, the study also found that blacks sleep less than whites, men sleep less than women, and the poor sleep less than the wealthy. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060703162945.htm.
g Cosmicus - The space shuttle Discovery and its flag-waving crew thundered into space today, putting on a spectacular Fourth of July skyshow as it rocketed away on a long-awaited mission to repair and resupply the international space station. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts121/060704launch/.

Primordial star blob, bird extinction rates and advantages of orbital settlements

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Stars - The European Southern Observatory's VLT has helped scientists to discover a large primordial 'blob', more than 10 billion light-years away. The most likely scenario to account for its existence and properties is that it represents the early stage in the formation of a galaxy, when gas falls onto a large clump of dark matter. See http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/
060703163148.htm.
g Abodes - Transparent jellyfish-like creatures known as salps, considered by many a low member in the ocean food web, may be more important to the fate of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide in the ocean than previously thought. See http://www.astrobio.net/
news/modules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2010
mode=thread&order=0&thold=0.
g Life - Birds enjoy a relatively slow rate of extinction, but a new study suggests that rate might be severely underestimated. See http://www.
livescience.com/animalworld/060703_bird_extinctions.html.
g Intelligence - The mechanism behind jet lag, insomnia and other disorders that rely on an inner body clock is not what it seems, scientists announced. See http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/060703_body_clock.html.
g Cosmicus - What advantages would orbital settlements have over a colony built on another planet? See http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs/spacsetl.htm.

Freshwater flood of ocean, America’s new breed of rockets and astronauts safe from kidney stones

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - Near the end of the last Ice Age 8,000 years ago, an ice dam on North America's east coast broke, releasing a torrent of fresh water seven times more voluminous than all the Great Lakes combined. It all rushed into the Atlantic Ocean over the course of only a few months. See http://www.livescience.com/environment/060629_lake_bursts.html.
g Cosmicus - A new spy satellite is circling Earth after a spectacular sendoff Tuesday evening, marking the first time such a clandestine national security spacecraft has launched aboard America's modern breed of rockets. See http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d317/.
g Cosmicus - Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a way for astronauts to reduce their risk of developing kidney stones while in space. See http://www.astrobio.net/news/mod
ules.phpop=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2009mode
=thread&order=0&thold=0.

Ozone layer under repair, ants’ internal pedometer, artificial brain cells and America’s need breed of rockets

Welcome! “Alien Life” tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; Career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here’s today’s news:
g Abodes - The hole in Earth's protective ozone layer won't repair itself until about two decades later than had been expected, scientists announced. See http://www.livescience.com/environment/060630_ozone_hole.html.
g Life - Ants use an internal pedometer to find their way home without getting sidetracked, a new study reports. See http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/060629_ant_pedometers.html.
g Intelligence - A uniform neural net of brain cells—a brain chip—has been created by a team of scientists lead by Yael Hanein of Tel Aviv University in Israel. See http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/060626_neural_net.html