The SETI Observer

September 19, 2002

	What is Life?
	Licancabur: Education in the Extreme
	Back on Line
	Eclipsed?
	SETI Institute Challenge
	Last Month's Challenge

Dear SETI Enthusiasts:

The SETI Institute lies conveniently close to the trail-threaded wetlands of Mountain View’s Shoreline Park, where I try to fit a power walk into my daily schedule. It’s a place full of sounds — nervous wing beats of ascending waterfowl, lush rustling of dry reeds and the sharp crunching sounds of athletic shoes on gravel. It’s also a great place to think.

These jaunts keep my physician happy as he helps me battle the inevitable march of time. They also provide an uninterrupted moment for pondering Institute business; a project update, a funding proposal, the next Board meeting, etc. But sometimes “big questions” emerge from the backdrop — questions SETI Institute scientists address everyday: What is life? What is intelligence? How do we recognize the most simple living system as “alive,” or the most complex electromagnetic signal as technological, and thus “intelligent”?

In the midst of reflecting on the big questions I realize we are all very fortunate to live in such an exciting time. I know the work of each SETI Institute scientist extends our understanding of our place in the cosmos and helps build a better understanding of Life in the Universe.

I invite you now to learn more about our work as you follow the links in this edition of the SETI Observer.

Sincerely,
Thomas Pierson
CEO, SETI Institute

What is Life?

Earlier this month, SETI Institute Senior Astronomer, Seth Shostak posed this very big question in an article that first appeared on SPACE.com. Citing a recent paper co-authored by Christopher Chyba of the SETI Institute with Carol Cleland (University of Colorado), Shostak discusses the tricky business of defining “life.” Does a laundry list of criteria (e.g. metabolism, Darwinian evolution, replication) do the job? Is it even possible for humans to define the term, or are we missing some fundamental conceptual ability necessary to articulate what distinguishes “alive” from that which is not? More importantly, as we seek life on worlds beyond our Earth, will we know it when we see it? more

Licancabur: Education in the Extreme

How can teachers in California take students on a field trip to a volcanic lake high in the mountains of Chile without leaving the classroom? This week on SPACE.com, SETI Institute’s Education Director, Edna DeVore describes a virtual field trip to the highest lake in the world near the summit of a dormant volcano nearly 20,000 feet above Chile’s Atacama Desert. The volcano’s name is Licancabur, and its largely unexplored lake offers the public an opportunity to see science as it happens. more

Back on Line

Are We Alone? is back online. “This week,” says host Seth Shostak, “we'll be talking about the latest developments in the search for distant worlds. More than 100 extrasolar planet discoveries have been claimed, but are some of these claims bogus? We'll also investigate just when we can expect to find Earth-like worlds.”
Find out how you can hear the show

Eclipsed?

Going, going, almost gone. Don’t miss your chance to view the December 4th total solar eclipse from Australia with SETI Institute scientists Frank Drake and Seth Shostak. A few spots are open on the trip of a lifetime, November 26 - December 10, 2002.

SETI Institute Challenge

Be one of the first five to answer the following question correctly and get a cool SETI Institute t-shirt. We'll post the answer in next month's e-newsletter. Send your answer to newsletter@seti.org

Pick the statement that most accurately completes this phrase, the Licancabur crater:

Is where SETI scientists study ancient Inca communication systems.
Is a convenient site for students to camp while they study volcanoes.
Is an excellent site for studying organisms that live in extreme environments.
Is the future site of a Chilean SETI telescope.

Last Month's Challenge: Did you answer correctly?

Last month we asked readers to identify the statement that is most true:

The Arthur Clarke Mars Greenhouse is:

Where SETI scientists grow seeds that have been flown in space missions to study the effects of space travel on plants.
Helping scientists study the challenges and benefits of maintaining a greenhouse component of Mars missions.
A science fiction writers' retreat in Sri Lanka.
Where vegetarian SETI scientists grow produce for their salads.

The correct answer is "B."

As SETI Observer reader Tracy Avent noted:

We would want a long-term Mars mission to include a self-sustaining environment. Ideally this would include plants in some type of biosphere, but nobody knows whether plants would grow properly in circumstances of zero-G and artificial light. ...The first answer is tempting but perhaps too specific; true scientific speculation asks “what would happen if ...” rather than looking for a yes/no answer assuming we know the right question.

Watch for another thought provoking question in next month's e-newsletter.

Email:newsletter@seti.org