New "Drake Equation" Selects Between Alien Worlds

An anonymous reader writes 'A mathematical equation that counts habitats suitable for alien life could complement the Drake equation, which estimates the probability of finding intelligent alien beings elsewhere in the galaxy. That equation, developed in 1960 by US astronomer Frank Drake, estimates the probability of intelligent life existing elsewhere in our galaxy by considering the number of stars with planets that could support life. The new equation, under development by planetary scientists at the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, aims to develop a single index for habitability based on the presence of energy, solvents such as water, raw materials like carbon, and whether or not there are benign environmental conditions.'

Comments

Seems silly

[ruiner13]

based on the presence of energy, solvents such as water, raw materials like carbon and whether or no there are benign environmental conditions

Aren't there extremophiles on Earth that already lack some if not all of these attributes? Really, the presence of energy seems like the only real requirement for life here on Earth. Who knows what other extremes may lurk extra terrestrially.

Re:Seems silly

[Geoffrey.landis]

based on the presence of energy, solvents such as water, raw materials like carbon and whether or no there are benign environmental conditions

Aren't there extremophiles on Earth that already lack some if not all of these attributes?

No.

No life without water and raw materials. And, as for "benign environmental conditions," that's a little under-defined, but in general, the entire Earth should be called "benign" by the standards of the rest of the solar system.

Re:Seems silly

[RiotingPacifist]

A solvent (such as water) is needed as chemical reactions are too slow in the gas/solid phase. In addition water has a rare (if not unique) property in that it is the most dense at a point in its liquid phase, this means that at the bottom of a pool of water the temperature can remain pretty constant allowing living things to stay that way until they are capable of surviving at different temperatures.
A raw material (like carbon) is needed to build the backbone of life, it has to have many properties similar to carbon. While other setups are possible the chemistry prefers carbon (its a single chemical as compared to combos and it is very reactive) and the physics does too (there is more of it than the alternatives because its a light element).

oblig XKCD

[Arlet]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_drake_equation.png

Re:oblig XKCD

[sakdoctor]

Would it be possible to use collaborative filtering, and meta data provided by xkcd to produce a "These xkcd strips may be obligatory for this article",
for sites such as slashdot?

Re:oblig XKCD

[natehoy]

Might be fun for one person to write the code, but it would destroy the ongoing joy of dozens of slashdotters who have indexed xkcd in their heads and can instantly recall the appropriate xkcd reference.

Some things are best left to trained artisans and handcrafters, and this is one of them. Xkcd references should be lovingly chosen from the available stock, and carefully hand-posted using only the best hand-cut-and-pasted letters in the URL. You just won't get that kind of artistry from an emotionless metadata comparison engine.

"as we know it" clause

[Thanshin]

Hopefully they've detailed somewhere that they're only taking into account the habitability by known possible life forms.

There's no way of knowing whether there's an intelligent life form we've not detected yet, in this very planet. For as much as we know, Earth itself could be a "cell" of a galactic sized life form that has stars as neurons and light as nervous signals.

Re:"as we know it" clause

[Thanshin]

Right, except for that whole "speed of light" thing, puts a real damper on signal propagation between these stellar neurons.

Given the estimated age of the universe, such a nervous system could have gone through *maybe* the equivalent of a month of thought in a biological brain, which isn't much.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to rule out hypotheses like this.

I'd be surprised indeed.

Will you do it?

Gaia hippy shit

[Hognoxious]

Hey, Moonfruit, the sixties are over. If the planet was an organism it would have gone to the galactic doctor and got something to clear that nasty infection.