For Water Just Add Starlight And Hopes And Fears Of Contacting Eti
g STARS - ESA's Herschel infrared space observatory has discovered that ultraviolet starlight is the key ingredient for making water in space. It is the only explanation for why a dying star is surrounded by a gigantic cloud of hot water vapor. See article.
g ABODES - Astronomers have measured the temperature of a young gas-giant planet and found that its atmosphere is unlike that of any previously studied extrasolar planet. Such observations help astrobiologists understand the properties of extrasolar planets and will aid in the search for habitable worlds beyond our solar system. See article.
g LIFE - Scripps Research Institute scientists have identified two proteins with potential to be important targets for research into a wide range of health problems, including pain, deafness, and cardiac and kidney dysfunction. See article.
g COSMICUS - Sugar, salt, alcohol and a little serendipity led a Northwestern University research team to discover a new class of nanostructures that could be used for gas storage and food and medical technologies. And the compounds are edible. See article.
g AFTERMATH - Here's an interesting book that is slated for June publication: "Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials," by Michael Michaud. This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. As necessary background, the book also included brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create. See review.
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