Category: Extraterrestrial life
Panspermia (maybe life came from outer space) is back, in Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology
| May 19, 2018 | Posted by News under Cambrian explosion, Extraterrestrial life, Human evolution, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life, Viruses |
Abstract: We review the salient evidence consistent with or predicted by the Hoyle-Wickramasinghe (H-W) thesis of Cometary (Cosmic) Biology. Much of this physical and biological evidence is multifactorial. One particular focus are the recent studies which date the emergence of the complex retroviruses of vertebrate lines at or just before the Cambrian Explosion of ∼500 Ma. […]
Science at sunset: Dark energy, if it exists, might make a multiverse hospitable to life, if it exists
| May 15, 2018 | Posted by News under Cosmology, Culture, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Multiverse, Origin Of Life |
From ScienceDaily: Questions about whether other universes might exist as part of a larger Multiverse, and if they could harbour life, are burning issues in modern cosmology. Now new research led by Durham University, UK, and Australia’s University of Sydney, Western Sydney University and the University of Western Australia, has shown that life could potentially […]
Exoplanets break apparent rules for planet formation
| May 14, 2018 | Posted by News under Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Lisa Grossman at ScienceNews: Seven of those exoplanets are in the TRAPPIST-1 system, one of the most exciting families of planets astronomers have discovered to date. At least three TRAPPIST-1 planets might host liquid water on their surface, making them top spots to look for signs of life (SN: 12/23/17, p. 25). Yet those […]
SETI seeks to rebrand its goals, in pursuit of funding from the U.S. Congress
| May 11, 2018 | Posted by News under Design inference, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Marina Koren at the Atlantic: As recently as January of this year, Tarter suggested a rebranding for seti. “Seti is not the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. We can’t define intelligence, and we sure as hell don’t know how to detect it remotely,” she said. Seti “is searching for evidence of someone else’s technology. We […]
Are we getting desperate or what?: A “cosmic gorilla effect” could blind the detection of aliens?
| April 11, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From ScienceDaily: One of the problems that have long intrigued experts in cosmology is how to detect possible extraterrestrial signals. Are we really looking in the right direction? Maybe not, according to the study that the neuropsychologists Gabriel de la Torre and Manuel García, from the University of Cádiz, publish in the journal Acta Astronautica. […]
Fixing the unfixable Drake equation
| April 8, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From astrophysicist Ethan Siegel at Forbes: Again, Earth is our only laboratory for this, but let’s be optimistic in the absence of evidence, and assume there’s a 1-in-1,000 chance that a world that starts with a primitive, replicating, information-encoding strand of life can lead to something like the Cambrian explosion. That gives us 10,000 worlds […]
Shush! Don’t tell SETI: Lack of phosphorus makes alien life doubtful
| April 5, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Allan Adamson at Tech Times: Astronomers have been hunting for phosphorus in the universe because of the role it plays in life on Earth. If the element is lacking in other parts of the cosmos, it could be difficult for alien life to exist. A new study presented at the European Week of Astronomy […]
Obituary column: By the time we hear from the space aliens, they will be dead
| March 13, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life |
From Lisa Grossman at Science News, on an effort to update the Drake Equation: If the civilization lasted less than 100,000 years — the time it takes light to cross the galaxy — then the odds of the signals reaching Earth while the civilization is still broadcasting are vanishingly small, the researchers report February 27 […]
Now that’s different: Identical twins, one in space, have different DNA?
| March 12, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Extraterrestrial life, Genetics, Intelligent Design |
From NASA: The Twin Study propelled NASA into the genomics era of space travel. It was a ground-breaking study comparing what happened to astronaut Scott Kelly, in space, to his identical twin brother, Mark, who remained on Earth. The perfect nature versus nurture study was born. The Twins Study brought ten research teams from around […]
Americans don’t fear the discovery of alien life. So why do some commentators insist they do?
| February 25, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Religion |
From Maria Temming at Science News: If alien microbes crash-land on Earth, they may get a warm welcome. When people were asked how they would react to the discovery of extraterrestrial microbial life, they give generally positive responses, researchers reported at a news conference February 16 at the annual meeting of the American Association for […]
Suzan Mazur has some hard questions for NASA “astrovirology” expert Ken Stedman
| February 19, 2018 | Posted by News under Cell biology, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life |
Yes, “astrovirology” is a new term, for the possibility that viruses originated in space. Suzan Mazur wonders at Oscillations: If viruses originated on Earth—which is NASA astrovirology chief Ken Stedman’s “best guess”—just why do we need a new field called astrovirology? That’s a very good question. If viruses originated elsewhere than Earth, the history of […]
New book: How will religions deal with extraterrestrial life?
| February 11, 2018 | Posted by News under Books of interest, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Religion |
Religions and Extraterrestrial Life: How Will We Deal With It? by David A. Weintraub: In the twenty-first century, the debate about life on other worlds is quickly changing from the realm of speculation to the domain of hard science. Within a few years, as a consequence of the rapid discovery by astronomers of planets around […]
Tech advance may make Earth-sized exoplanet analysis easier
| February 2, 2018 | Posted by News under Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
Good project. Hope differs from hype by more than a single letter. From Brian Wang at ScienceNews: Babak Saif and Lee Feinberg at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have shown for the first time that they can dynamically detect subatomic- or picometer-sized distortions — changes that are far smaller than an atom […]
Desperate times: Should we look for alien life that doesn’t need oxygen?
| January 29, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Mike Wall at LiveScience: Alien-life hunters should keep an open mind when scanning the atmospheres of exoplanets, a new study stresses. The time-honored strategy of looking for oxygen is indeed a good one, study team members said; after all, it’s tough for this gas to build up in a planet’s atmosphere if life isn’t […]
Are these stats for ET just “barking mad”?
| January 28, 2018 | Posted by News under Culture, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Mathematics |
Proven. From SETI’s Seth Shostak at NBC News: Simple math shows how many space aliens may be out there: It’s a lot more than you might imagine! We start with recent research showing that one in six stars hosts a planet hospitable to life. No, not one in a million. One in six. So let’s […]
Rebranding SETI: They are now looking for inferior space alien technology. But why?
| January 27, 2018 | Posted by News under Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Naturalism |
SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) needs a new name, says spokesperson. From Calla Cofield at Space.com: At a recent meeting of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on Astrobiology Science Strategy for the Search for Life in the Universe, held here at the University of California, Irvine, Tarter explained that the phrase “search for extraterrestrial […]
Researcher: “… it’s quite possible that life emerged within a few million years of when conditions became habitable.”
| January 24, 2018 | Posted by News under Darwinism, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life |
From Rebecca Boyle at Quanta: From a seam in one of these hills, a jumble of ancient, orange-Creamsicle rock spills forth: a deposit called the Apex Chert. Within this rock, viewable only through a microscope, there are tiny tubes. Some look like petroglyphs depicting a tornado; others resemble flattened worms. They are among the most […]
ET life: Massive dust storms deprive Mars of water
| January 23, 2018 | Posted by News under Exoplanets, Extraterrestrial life, Intelligent Design |
From Dan Garisto at ScienceNews: Storms of powdery Martian soil are contributing to the loss of the planet’s remaining water. This newly proposed mechanism for water loss, reported January 22 in Nature Astronomy, might also hint at how Mars originally became dehydrated. Researchers used over a decade of imaging data taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance […]
Should NASA look for viruses in space?
| January 18, 2018 | Posted by News under Cell biology, Extraterrestrial life, Genetics, Intelligent Design, Origin Of Life |
From Alex Barash at Slate: The not-quite life forms have a bad rap. But they’re a reliable sign of life, and it would be exciting to find them in space. For one thing, viruses are an excellent indicator for life itself: Wherever there’s life on Earth, there are viruses, too, and almost invariably in far […]
“Alien Megastructure Is Not The Cause Of The Dimming Of Tabby’s Star ” (Design Inference filter in action; Sci Fi Fans disappointed)
According to SciTech Daily in a January 3, 2018 article, Tabby’s star, aka KIC 8462852, has had a mysterious brightening and dimming cycle. (Such a cycle, of course raises the interesting thought of the erection of a Dyson Sphere or a similar megastructure.) As the article reports: >>A team of more than 200 researchers, including […]
