g ABODES - Book alert: By the end of 2010, astronomers had compiled a list of 500 exoplanets: extrasolar planets orbiting other stars. Those distant planets are most likely too big, too gaseous, and too hot to support life, but the very fact that we can now discover these distant worlds means it's time to start thinking about just how we might identify habitable planets that may be thousands of light years away. "How to Find a Habitable Planet" by James Kastings offer some suggestions about how to do just that. See review.
g LIFE - A recent high-profile astrobiology discovery led by a NASA scientist is being called into question by a B.C. microbiologist, who says the science was sloppy. See article.
g INTELLIGENCE - A ballet dancer grasps her partner's hand to connect for a pas de deux. Later that night, in the dark, she reaches for her calf to massage a sore spot. Her brain is using different "maps" to plan for each of these movements, according to a new study. See article
g MESSAGE - We humans are familiar with the back-and-forth of face-to-face contact - something we likely will not have in an interstellar conversation. The timescale of a human life may well not be enough for a meaningful dialogue with another species. Interstellar dialogue may make sense only across generations. See article. This article is from 2003.
