My friend Allen just sent me this so I thought I'd post it here:
Hawking: Aliens may pose risks to Earth
Excerpt:
Hawking claims in a new documentary that intelligent alien lifeforms almost certainly exist, but warns that communicating with them could be "too risky."
The 68-year-old scientist says a visit by extraterrestrials to Earth would be like Christopher Columbus arriving in the Americas, "which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans."
Basically, he is reiterating what other physicists have been saying over the last couple of months, but the thing that piques my interest about this is that while science has been telling us that interaction with an ET civilization is highly unlikely because of the 'vast distances of interstellar travel', it make you wonder what ideas are changing among physicists (if any) to bring this up "now", if it's something they feel is a non-issue for a very, "very" long time.
Is Hawking possibly hinting at something, or simply playing on science fiction to attract ratings for his upcoming series? Maybe it's nothing more than speculative thoughts he felt like voicing.
It is interesting, however, that the once common and widely accepted theory that advanced civilizations would be 'enlightened' and therefore be well beyond war and plundering, is now being looked at in largely different light.
This is the latest book written by Milton W. Hourcade and his first in English.
Along 172 pages, and with a selection of pictures, the author reviews the whole UFO subject and comes to a proposal for a new Ufology.
The book presents a serious approach to the UFO phenomenon, from a scientific standpoint, looking for a new way to solve the mystery.
The book begins by presenting the main characteristics of UFO
phenomena. It then discusses Orbs and Rods, provides scientific
explanations to widely reported UFO cases, a deep analysis of
abductions, and an extensive consideration to the Extra-Terrestrial
Hypothesis.
It includes a review of the famous Socorro, NM incident, followed by an interview with Dr. Jill Tarter (SETI).
Dr. MassimoTeodorani, an Italian astrophysicist, contributes a report about the Hessdalen Lights as well as his his fully loaded scientific paper on "Physics from the UFO Data".
The book concludes with a retrospective and prospective look at Ufology, and a proposal for a new approach to the study of UFOs.
Currently the book is available from the Editorial AuthorHouse, either printed or as an e-book.
Visit http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/ and search for the title of the book.
The soft-cover version cost is 10.99, and the Web version is 9.99.
A must read for anyone seriously interested in UFOs.
Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g ABODES - In the search for life beyond Earth, scientists 'follow the water' to find places that might be hospitable. However, every home gardener knows that plants need more than water, or even sunshine. They also need fertilizer - a mixture of chemical elements that are the building blocks of the molecules of life. Scientists at Arizona State University are studying how the distribution of these elements on Earth - or beyond - shapes the distribution of life, the state of the environment and the course of evolution. See article.
g LIFE - To approach the empirical question of how far we can test the earliest stages of biological evolution in our own solar system, we should decide first whether we should expect any form of convergence in the exo-microorganisms that we might encounter, possibly close to the surface of icy worlds, such as Europa. See article. Note: This article is from 2003.
g COSMICUS - By using a combination of remotely operated vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles, SCUBA divers and DeepWorker submersibles, the Pavilion Lake Research Project is blending cutting-edge science and technology to advance our knowledge of astrobiology and to help us learn how to explore with humans on the Moon and Mars. See article.
g LEARNING - If science communications in astrobiology is about researchers sharing their results, the audience for new findings may well turn out to be a surprising finding in itself. John Horack, one of the principal Internet architects for how a Webby-award winning NASA site found its audience, explains new ways to view the problem of sharing science. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.
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