An Equation for Life

Recently, British scientists have formulated a new equation for judging the ability for a planet to have life. They have come up with the "habitability index". Since all these new planets are coming up, why not rate how habitable they would be to support life. This would show future generations a starting point on where to look for life on other planets. Based on factors of the earth, other close by planets in our solar system can be given indexes, such as Mars having a 0.5. But this system only proved where to look for life, not intelligent life which is the true goal. Those of the SETI Institute, such as Seth Shostak, believe that life can be found on many planets but intelligent life is the real goal and we won't find it until we advance our own knowledge.

Life Equation

Alien's Dissatisfied with the Switch to Cable

As the US and many other countries switch their televisions to digital cable instead of analog, the possibility of alien intelligence picking up the signals are drastically decreased. The spikes of radio signals that analog televisions picked up have now disappeared and with all broadcasts at similar low levels the ability for ET to tune into popular culture of 50 years ago is close to impossible. But with radar being the strongest signal sent into outer space, it is still possible for alien life to know that we are here and searching for them. But with us constantly flooding the airwaves Seth Shostak says that eventually "someone may notice."

Switch to Digital

The Search for Earth 2

As technology advances and as we start applying more and more of our technological know how to searching for Extra Terrestrial life, we first find planets like earth. For the most part earth like planets are as rare as finding a large diamond in the middle of the street waiting for you to pick it up. But with advanced technology such as HARPS we are able to find planets close to our very own earth. And with the Kepler telescope in orbit, it is possible to not only find planets close to the size of earth, but also near the same temperature and therefore more likely to have intelligent life. Although actually coming into contact with this life is nearly impossible, says Seth Shostak, it is becoming more and more possible.

New Planets

So Close to Extraterrestrial You Wouldn't Bee Leave it

Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute has recently drawn the parallel that bees can have the same characteristics of extraterrestrial life. She considers intelligence to be "a communication system, advanced tool use, and astronomy. Although we in Physics 103 define it as the ability to send and receive radio signals, Doyle's way of describing intelligence would also seem correct. Bees are able to navigate other bees to pollen by using an angle aligned with the sun. Bees are also able to built perfect hexagons within the hive and can communicate with one another. Doyle believes that learning how other species on earth are intelligent will help us better prepare for meeting Extra Terrestrial Intelligence.

Bees

Searching for ET

Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute discusses the different and new ideas to search for extraterrestrial life. Instead of looking to old fashion radio waves, such as neutrinos which are particles that can pass through planets. Other ideas include shooting beams faster than light, sending gravity waves and making large objects that orbit a star but are not shaped like planets. These objects would then show up differently to satellites such as Kepler. So even though many of these ideas are out there, humans are yet to be advanced enough to engage in this kind of communication.

Search for ET

What if We Found Life on Mars

Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer of the SETI Institute, discussed the reactions humans would have if there was life found on mars. He considers that the people of earth would either colonize it, try to let the life flourish, or fencing in the inhabitance of mars and live on the rest of the planet. But Shostak wouldn't know which way the human race would react.

Finding Alien Life