The Arecibo Message And Asteroids That Pass Our Planet
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 ABODES -The majority of asteroids that pass near the Earth have a different composition than most of the meteorites that actually hit our planet. Astronomers now think they may have figured out why this is the case. See article.

g MESSAGE -In 1974, astronomers sent the "Arecibo message," a binary-coded signal that decodes to a graphic illustrating some basic characteristics of Earth. The message was intended more to demonstrate the power of the telescope than to contact distant civilizations. Cornell's 25th anniversary announcement includes a decoded explanation and more information about what the scientists were thinking. See article.

g COSMICUS -QinetiQ's Zephyr Unmanned Aerial Vehicle obliterated the previous world record for continuous solar flight, though some technical disputes may hold off its place in the records books for a short time. See article.

g AFTERMATH - Would dutiful American citizens trust the government to handle first contact with extraterrestrials and rush to get information to the public? See article. Note: This article is from 1999.