Sun Streams And Alien Eavesdropping

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:g STARS - Contrary to popular belief, the number of sunspots visible on the sun may not be an indication of changes in the sun's impact on Earth. Last year, the Earth was bombarded with high levels of solar energy - even though the sun was in a quiet phase of its 11-year cycle and sunspots had virtually disappeared. See article.g ABODES - A newly-discovered exoplanet has an atmosphere that contains the same ingredients as rocks. In fact, a storm on COROT-7b may include pebbles condensing out of the air to rain into lakes of lava. COROT-7b is less than twice the size of Earth and can help astronomers understand how small, rocky planets form and evolve. See article.g MESSAGE - For more than 80 years, we've been sending radio (and eventually television) transmissions into space, allowing anyone in space to hear war reports from London, "I Love Lucy" reruns and our latest election results. So wouldn't hearing aliens be as simple as turning on the radio? Here's why not.g AFTERMATH - There is a good deal of apprehension among the general public that samples returned from other worlds such as Mars - just might - contain alien germs capable of turning into a worldwide plague, or at least wreaking havoc with the Earth's natural environment. Beside this fear of "back contamination," there is also a fear of "forward contamination" - the possibility that spacecraft might contaminate the worlds they land on with Earth microbes, destroying scientifically priceless alien lifeforms before we even have a chance to study them. See article. Note: This article is from 1999.Get your SF book manuscript edited