30.4 The search for extraterrestrial intelligence  (Page 10/27)

Shapiro, R. “A Simpler Origin of Life.” Scientific American (June 2007): 46. New ideas about what kind of molecules formed first so life could begin.

Simpson, S. “Questioning the Oldest Signs of Life.” Scientific American (April 2003): 70. On the difficulty of interpreting biosignatures in rocks and the implications for the search for life on other worlds.

SETI

Chandler, D. “The New Search for Alien Intelligence.” Astronomy (September 2013): 28. Review of various ways of finding other civilizations out there, not just radio wave searches.

Crawford, I. “Where Are They?” Scientific American (July 2000): 38. On the Fermi paradox and its resolutions, and on galactic colonization models.

Folger, T. “Contact: The Day After.” Scientific American (January 2011): 40–45. Journalist reports on efforts to prepare for ET signals; protocols and plans for interpreting messages; and discussions of active SETI.

Kuhn, J., et al. “How to Find ET with Infrared Light.” Astronomy (June 2013): 30. On tracking alien civilizations by the heat they put out.

Lubick, N. “An Ear to the Stars.” Scientific American (November 2002): 42. Profile of SETI researcher Jill Tarter.

Nadis, S. “How Many Civilizations Lurk in the Cosmos?” Astronomy (April 2010): 24. New estimates for the terms in the Drake equation.

Shostak, S. “Closing in on E.T.” Sky&Telescope (November 2010): 22. Nice summary of current and proposed efforts to search for intelligent life out there.

Websites

Astrobiology

Astrobiology Web: http://astrobiology.com/. A news site with good information and lots of material.

Exploring Life’s Origins: http://exploringorigins.org/index.html. A website for the Exploring Origins Project, part of the multimedia exhibit of the Boston Museum of Science. Explore the origin of life on Earth with an interactive timeline, gain a deeper knowledge of the role of RNA, “build” a cell, and explore links to learn more about astrobiology and other related information.

History of Astrobiology: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/history-of-astrobiology/. By Marc Kaufman, on the NASA Astrobiology site.

Life, Here and Beyond: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/about/. By Marc Kaufman, on the NASA Astrobiology site.

SETI

Berkeley SETI Research Center: https://seti.berkeley.edu/. The University of California group recently received a $100 million grant from a Russian billionaire to begin the Breakthrough: Listen project.

Fermi Paradox: http://www.seti.org/seti-institute/project/details/fermi-paradox. Could we be alone in our part of the Galaxy or, more dramatic still, could we be the only technological society in the universe? A useful discussion.

Planetary Society: http://www.planetary.org/explore/projects/seti/. This advocacy group for exploration has several pages devoted to the search for life.

SETI Institute: http://www.seti.org. A key organization in the search for life in the universe; the institute’s website is full of information and videos about both astrobiology and SETI.

SETI: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/tag/seti/. Sky&Telescope magazine offers good articles on this topic.