Tag: Extraterrestrial life

Alien search won’t doom planet Earth, say scientists who want to contact ET

It's interesting how these related stores seem to come in batches: Alien search won't doom planet Earth, say scientists who want to contact ET | Science | The Guardian. Fears that a major program to contact alien life could spell disaster for planet Earth were dismissed as “paranoid” on Thursday by scientists who hope to beam … Continue reading Alien search won’t doom planet Earth, say scientists who want to contact ET →

Subsurface oceans everywhere and the possible pervasiveness of life

Well, it now looks like Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, has a subsurface ocean. Ganymede's great distinction among moons - apart from its size - is that it has its own magnetic field. Hubble has managed to track that field's behaviour by watching how it draws in and excites space particles, generating a glow of … Continue reading Subsurface oceans everywhere and the possible pervasiveness of life →

Three conditions are necessary for SETI to succeed

Tom Hartsfield has a post up at Real Clear Science criticizing both the Drake equation and SETI: If you like science fiction, you're probably familiar with the Drake equation. This famous one-line formula solves for the number of intelligent alien civilizations within our galaxy with whom we might be able to communicate. Supporters of the … Continue reading Three conditions are necessary for SETI to succeed →

Methane-Based Life Possible On Titan

ratamacue0 sent me this interesting Slashdot post: Methane-Based Life Possible On Titan - Slashdot. Randym writes: With the simultaneous announcement of a possible nitrogen-based, cell-like structure allowing life outside the "liquid water zone" (but within a methane atmosphere) announced by researchers at Cornell (academic paper) and the mystery of fluctuating methane levels on Marsraising the possibility of methane-respiring … Continue reading Methane-Based Life Possible On Titan →

Complex life in the universe may be much rarer than previously thought

At least, according to a couple of astrophysicists: Complex life may be possible in only 10% of all galaxies | Science/AAAS | News. The universe may be a lonelier place than previously thought. Of the estimated 100 billion galaxies in the observable universe, only one in 10 can support complex life like that on Earth, a … Continue reading Complex life in the universe may be much rarer than previously thought →

Eavesdropping on E.T. and the possibility of interstellar travel

Gabriel Popkin as an article at Inside Science about a study that looks at the possibility of intercepting communications between other alien civilizations.  The idea is that communicating across interstellar distances is best done with lasers. So far, the optical search for extraterrestrial intelligence has focused mainly on the hope of receiving—and recognizing—an intentional, laser-encoded … Continue reading Eavesdropping on E.T. and the possibility of interstellar travel →

How should we communicate with aliens? Should we communicate?

Seth Shostak has a post up at HuffPost asking what we should say if we ever find ourselves in conversation with aliens.  Apparently this was the topic of a recent conference at the SETI institute. Before commenting on Shostak's main thesis, I think he makes an assertion that deserves scrutiny. A decade of research by … Continue reading How should we communicate with aliens? Should we communicate? →

Find alien civilizations by their pollution?

There's been speculation that advanced telescopes may be able to find hallmarks of alien life by looking for oxygen in the spectrum of light reflected off of exoplanets, but this article suggests using the James Web Space Telescope to look for pollution: Pollution on other worlds may show advanced alien life - space - 27 June … Continue reading Find alien civilizations by their pollution? →