io9
mars colony
Posts Tagged “
astrobiology
”
mars colony
aliens
Failure of the Planet of the Apes Hypothesis
Charley Lineweaver, a scientist with the SETI Institute, argued today that pure human vanity, not scientific evidence, leads us to believe that if humans were wiped off the face of the Earth some other species (probably an ape of some kind) would rise to fill the "intelligence niche" that we Homo sapiens currently occupy. He calls this the "Planet of the Apes hypothesis," and believes that life here on Earth has already shown it to be false. That means the way we're searching for extra-terrestrial life — or even the act of searching itself — is terribly misguided. More »
astrobiology
Future SETI: Looking for Alien Lasers, Gravity Waves
If you've ever seen the movie Contact, you'll know the alien-hunter stereotype: quirky, visionary loners who sit up all night listening to static, hoping for the signal that will change the world. That's probably not far off from real life, except that SETI (that's Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) scientists are getting creative. Here at the Astrobiology Science Conference, 2008, they're presenting new ways of looking for little green men, including watching for signs of alien lasers, infrared signals, and even gravity waves.More »
astrobiology
Tatooine Could Be Real, but Needs a Jovian Neighbor Scientists Say
Luke Skywalker's home planet, which orbits a binary star system, could be out there, according to Ryosuke Kita of Northwestern University, who presented this morning at the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008. Of the 200 or so star systems where we've found planets, about 20 percent are binary systems, and that number should go up as we find more, since about half of all main-sequence stars are binaries. Kita's calculations show that gravity from a second star will perturb an Earth-like planet's orbit to the point of making its climate uninhabitable. The key, he says, is that the planet can't be alone — it needs a nearby gas giant to help stabilize its orbit, and allow a climate that could support life. More »
astrobiology
Looking for Life on Other Planets? Look in the Mirror
At the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008 Nick Wolfe of the University of Arizona said yesterday that the best way to tell whether an exoplanet may harbor water — and life — is for us to launch a mission into space that will look back at Earth. Ever since Voyager I launched we've had a chance to gaze from afar at the homeworld, but for some reason we've passed up the chance. Wolfe said that's a critical oversight. As we search for new planets that might harbor life around far-off stars, it might be useful to know about what our own planet looks like from a distance. More »
astrobiology
Which Parts of the Galaxy Do Aliens Hang Out In?
Here at the Astrobiology Science Conference 2008 in Santa Clara, Charley Lineweaver, a Senior Fellow at the Planetary Science Institute is trying to figure out where in a galaxy aliens might live - the so-called "galactic habitable zone." Planetary habitable zones are well-known - for our sun Sol, we think it's roughly between Venus' orbit and the asteroid belt outside Mars' orbit. Galactic habitable zones are little tougher to pin down - as usual you've got to worry about having liquid water (or liquid something), but things get interesting when you consider the risk of getting blown up by a supernova. More »
Science of Astrobiology Reading List
Mike Brotherton, author of the novel Spider Star released last month from Tor, proudly calls himself a hard science fiction writer. And now he's sharing the secret of his hardness with you. Brotherton just posted a really interesting, provocative list of general-audience books about space and astrobiology that he consults before writing anything. He lists everything from the well-regarded astrobiology book Life Everywhere, to the lesser-known classic Sex in Space. If you're interested in the real science behind aliens and space travel, you'll want to check out Brotherton's bookshelf. [Mike Brotherton via Biology in Science Fiction]
Mike Brotherton, author of the novel Spider Star released last month from Tor, proudly calls himself a hard science fiction writer. And now he's sharing the secret of his hardness with you. Brotherton just posted a really interesting, provocative list of general-audience books about space and astrobiology that he consults before writing anything. He lists everything from the well-regarded astrobiology book Life Everywhere, to the lesser-known classic Sex in Space. If you're interested in the real science behind aliens and space travel, you'll want to check out Brotherton's bookshelf. [Mike Brotherton via Biology in Science Fiction]
chart
