Intergalactic Particle Beam And Follow The Energy
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:

g STARS - An intergalactic particle beam stretching for more than a million light years is the longest ever seen. According to the team that discovered this record breaker, it could help reveal how such jets of matter bind themselves together. See article.

g ABODES - All conceivable life forms, whether earthly or extraterrestrial, require an energy source, and scientists are increasingly employing a "Follow the Energy" approach in the search for signs of habitability and life beyond Earth, as described in a report in the December 2007 Special Issue (Volume 7, Number 6) of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal.

g COSMICUS - A robotic submarine designed to explore the oceans thought to lie beneath the icy crust on Jupiter's moon Europa will prove its mettle in an Antarctic lake in 2008. A previous version of the vessel has already mapped the balmier waters of a Mexican sinkhole. See article.