Scientists Widen the Hunt
for Alien Life (excellent)
" ... a quiet revolution is now
challenging this view and shaking the
foundations of exobiology, the study
of the possibility of life elsewhere in
the cosmos. Alien life, the new thinking
goes, might not actually need the warming
rays of a nearby star. It might thrive
inside dim moons and planets. The dark
ecosystems would be warmed by inner heat,
bathed in melted ice and powered by
chemicals."
-- New York Times, 5/6/97
The Search for Life on Other
Planets
(book summary)
" In The Search for Life on Other
Planets, Jakosky offers a scientific
foundation for thinking there may be life
elsewhere in the Universe. Using the
early history of the Earth and the
conditions that would allow life to
exist, he creates a sound, scientific
foundation for the possibility of life on
planets other than our own."
-- Cambridge University Press
Searching for Life in Our
Solar System
(excellent)
"If life evolved independently on
our neighboring planets or moons, then
where are the most likely places to look
for evidence of extraterrestrial
organisms?"
-- Scientific American, 3/98
Habitability and life in the
Solar System (college lecture notes)
The Plausibility of Extraterrestrial Life
- Habitability and life in the Solar
System
-- Physics Department, Gettysburg College
Looking into cosmic mystery
of life
"The mysteries of life are being
taken up by NASA’s Astrobiology
Institute, a project that’s still
being organized at the agency’s Ames
Research Center in California. David
Morrison, an astrobiologist at the
center, discussed the plan at the annual
meeting of the American Association for
the Advancement of Science."
-- MSNBC News, 2/14/98
NASA Science News - Using
Artificial Intelligence to Search for
Life
"The shape of life: How does the
computer "know" when it sees
it? Artificial Intelligence employed in
searching for extraterrestrial organisms
and designing new pharmaceuticals"
-- NASA, Space Science Laboratory,
6/11/98
SETI Institute
"The SETI Institute serves as a home
for scientific research in the general
field of Life in the Universe with an
emphasis on the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Our
research is designed to answer the
question: Are we alone in the
Universe?"
-- Non-profit research organization
Seti Institute: Life in the
Universe Curriculum (sample lessons)
"The 'Life in the Universe' project
has created supplementary science
curricula for elementary and middle
school students. "
-- SETI Institute
The Drake Equation for
Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life
"How can we estimate the number of
technological civilizations that might
exist among the stars? While working as a
radio astronomer at the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West
Virginia, Dr. Frank Drake (now President
of the SETI Institute) conceived an
approach to bound the terms involved in
estimating the number of technological
civilizations that may exist in our
galaxy. "
-- SETI Institute
Searching for Life While
Tending the Home Fires
"Space exploration is starting to
yield more discoveries and more
excitement as new technologies and
management methods pay off..."
-- NASA, Space Sciences Laboratory,
10/26/97
Life Beyond Earth
"... a martian meteorite made
international headlines trumpeting the
possibility of life on Mars. Excited NASA
researchers said tiny structures in the
rock were - just maybe - traces left
behind by bacteria that lived - just
possibly - billions of years ago on
Mars."
-- Dallas Morning News, 06/30/97
The Planetary Society (links)
"The Planetary Society is your
connection to the exploration of the
cosmos and the search for
extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
-- Non-profit research organization
co-founded by Carl Sagan
