Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Abodes - New evidence supports theories that conditions favorable for life may have existed all over the surface of ancient Mars. ESA's Mars Express and NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have identified hydrated silicate minerals in the northern lowlands of Mars, indicating that water once flowed there. See article.
g Message - We often assume extraterrestrials will be smart enough to contact us. But what if they aren't? How do we find them then? See article.
g Imagining - Here’s an interesting critical examination of science fiction aliens that’s worth reading: Chapter 1, "Aliens and Alien Worlds," of John J. Pierce’s “Great Themes of Science Fiction (1987). See reviews.
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The Drake Equation
This formula estimates the number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.N=(R*)(Ns)(Fp)(Ne)(Fl)(Fi)(Fc)(L)
Where:- N = Number of civilizations we can communicate with
- R* = Average star formation rate
- Ns = Percentage of stars capable of supporting earth-like planets
- Fp = Percentage of those stars with planets
- Ne = Average umber of planets in those stars' habitable zones
- Fl = Percentage of those planets where life begins
- Fi = Percentage of planets with life where an intelligent species evolves
- Fc = Percentage of those intelligent species that develop communication technology
- L = Average lifetime, in years, of a civilization that develops such technology
About Me
- Rob Bignell
- I'm the owner and chief editor at Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the editing and proofreading needs of writers both new and published. For more than two decades, I worked as an award-winning journalist, with half of those years spent as an editor. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres have been published, and I am the author of the nonfiction “Hikes with Tykes” series, a novel "Windmill", and a collection of poetry, "Love Letters to Sophie's Mom". For seven years I worked as an English teacher or a community college journalism instructor. I hold a master's degree in English and a bachelor's in journalism and English.