Monday, April 15, 2013

Volcanic eruptions linked to extinctions

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 - By studying locations as widespread as New Jersey and North Africa, a team of scientists has found a link between one of Earth's largest mass extinctions and gigantic volcanic eruptions. The study could hint at how sudden climate shifts could affect life's future on Earth. See article.
g Intelligence - Many lines of evidence indicate that schizophrenia is a disorder of neurodevelopment. For example, genes implicated in the heritable risk for schizophrenia are also implicated in the development of nerve cells and their connections. Numerous findings in brain imaging studies describe the changes in brain structure and function associated with schizophrenia as emerging early in the course of the disorder. Some early brain imaging studies even found little or no evidence of progression of structural deficits. See article.
g Aftermath - The statement that extraterrestrial intelligence exists or doesn’t can have the parallel statement that God exists or doesn’t. Some people say there’s already sufficient evidence of existence for both. If you set aside abductions and miracles, it’s true that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence for either. However, if and when humanity ever detects evidence of an extraterrestrial intelligence, it will break the symmetry of these two statements and, in fact, that evidence will be inconsistent with the existence of God or at least organized religions. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

Get your SF book manuscript edited