TeamSETI May/June 2008 Newsletter |
Celebrating Science 2008 is Coming!
An interactive Family Science Faire at the SETI Institute
SATURDAY, July 19, 2008, from 1:00-3:00 p.m.
(TeamSETI members have exclusive entry at 11:30 a.m.)
At our Celebrating Science 2008 Family Science Faire, you will have the opportunity to meet SETI Institute scientists and discover what the future holds for SETI and astrobiology. Learn about the SETI Institute's pioneering exploration of life, our solar system, and beyond, including the search for signals from other civilizations.
Check out the event website for the range of activities for youth of all ages! TeamSETI Special
TeamSETI members and up to 4 guests receive early entry and lunch between 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Special! Bring in new members to support the work of the SETI Institute and they will receive a 2008 TeamSETI Individual membership at the low price of $25!
On the day of the event, for every NEW member or upgrade, you will receive 5 extra tickets for our exciting prize drawings! For anyone bringing in five or more new members, we will upgrade YOUR membership 2 levels for 2008!
Not a member? Consider the benefits of membership and Join Now!
SETI Institute Membership Drive
The SETI Instituteis always listening for extraterrestrial intelligence, seeking the origins of life and striving to explain how it all fits together. TeamSETI is always looking for ways to support the Institute. Please take a moment and pass this e-newsletter on to a friend or family member who you believe might enjoy membership in TeamSETI and help support the SETI Institute’s mission.
If you have received this e-newsletter from someone, and you are interested in TeamSETI or supporting the SETI Institute, please visit http://www.seti.org/support-us/index.php. |
Nikon Equipment Grant
 Nikon, USA a has taken the somewhat unusual step of granting Dale Andersen about $12K worth of Nikon camera equipment - including their flagship camera body, the new Nikon D3, and three of the best lenses they make.
“This will help me enormously while conducting research in the field sites I visit. Recording and documenting my work is important both scientifically and for sharing the excitement with others. It is quite unusual for Nikon to give outright equipment grants so this is a big deal to me!
I will be heading to their facility on Long Island to give a talk and to discuss this new camera with their technical folks next month, it should be fun.
The next step if I can get the funds (~$10K) is to get this camera into an underwater housing so I can get the types of shots that no one else is able to get."
Dale Anderson
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The Affects of Vessel Noise
on Humpback Whales
A new paper by Laurance Doyle, et. al., appears in the scientific journal Entropy. It can be downloaded at Entropy by typing this link into your browser: http://www.mdpi.org/entropy/list08.htm#e10020033
Here’s the abstract! Entropy 2008, 10 34
We assess the effectiveness of applying information theory to the characterization and quantification of the affects of anthropogenic vessel noise on humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) vocal behavior in and around Glacier Bay, Alaska. Vessel noise has the potential to interfere with the complex vocal behavior of these humpback whales which could have direct consequences on their feeding behavior and thus ultimately on their health and reproduction.
Humpback whale feeding calls recorded during conditions of high vessel-generated noise and lower levels of background noise are compared for differences in acoustic structure, use, and organization using information theoretic measures. We apply information theory in a self-referential manner (i.e., orders of entropy) to quantify the changes in signaling behavior. We then compare this with the reduction in channel capacity due to noise in Glacier Bay itself treating it as a (Gaussian) noisy channel. We find that high vessel noise is associated with an increase in the rate and repetitiveness of sequential use of feeding call types in our averaged sample of humpback whale vocalizations, indicating that vessel noise may be modifying the patterns of use of feeding calls by the endangered humpback whales in Southeast Alaska. The information theoretic approach suggested herein can make a reliable quantitative measure of such relationships and may also be adapted for wider application to many species where environmental noise is thought to be a problem. |
 Long before the discovery of the first planet beyond our solar system, astronomer Doyle began theorizing about the habitability of planets around other stars, clarifying the conditions needed for a planet to bear life. Relying on his expertise in signal processing, he now looks for patterns in astronomical data, searching for extrasolar planets.
Recently, Doyle has begun using these same statistical tools to look for patterns in animal communication. Drawing on central concepts of information theory, he and his colleagues have precisely measured the complexity of the songs of humpback whales, comparing them with communication in other species—including humans. In the future, he plans to expand this innovative line of research, moving to the next level of understanding animal communication. Not content to understand how much an animal can communicate, he seeks to understand the meaning of the vocalizations of other species. |
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After Quake, Attention Grows
on Early Warning Systems
 SETI Institute PI Friedemann Freund’s work became the focus
of a Wall Street Journal article after the China quakes!
By LOUISE RADNOFSKY - May 20, 2008; Page A16
Early in May, NASA earth scientists monitoring infrared images of the earth noticed unusual patterns in southwestern China. One sent an email to colleagues, noting: Something is happening in Sichuan province.
For Freund, a chemist-turned-NASA geophysics researcher, it was more support for his simple, though hotly contested theory:
Earthquakes are the culmination of drawn-out physical processes that can be tracked sometimes more than a week ahead of the main event.
The main idea: Rocks put under enough pressure -- for example, when tectonic plates shift -- turn into batteries. The resulting electrical currents can travel miles into the earth, Dr. Freund says. The infrared images observed by NASA, for example, were concentrated several hundred miles from the epicenter of the roughly 8.0 magnitude earthquake that struck on May 12, killing at least 34,000 people.
Dr. Freund describes his discovery as simple, made at 2 p.m. on a Friday afternoon in early 2005 just before he and his graduate students finished packing up a temporary laboratory they had been using. For experiment No. 167, one for the road, they decided to use a copper contact to test whether a squeezed rock emitted a current. It did.
"This is something that should have been discovered 50 years ago," he said.
Click here to view the rest of the article |
Phoenix Spacecraft Lands at
Martian Arctic Site
05.25.08
 Congratulations to SETI Principle Investgators John Marshall & Richard Quinn, who are Co-Investigators on the project, on this fabulous success!!
From Edna DeVore’s two part article “The Bumpy Road to Mars”
Phoenix is a remotely operated laboratory, designed to answer key questions about the history of water on Mars and whether Mars could support life. It's been a long and rocky road to get this lab to Mars in 2008. In 1996, the Russians lost a lander which splashed down somewhere off the coast of Chile. In 1999, NASA lost the Mars Polar Lander, and then grounded the similar 2001 Mars lander. Then, ESA's Beagle 2 mission failed. It's hard to get to Mars and do science, as the history of spaceflight attests. Phoenix is well named. It carries the heritage, as well as many components, of these prior missions which all share the same goal: Follow the water in the search for life. Here are links to the Bumpy Road to Mars!
http://www.seti.org/news/features/bumpy-road-to-mars1.php
http://www.seti.org/news/features/bumpy-road-to-mars2.php
There’s lots of coverage all over the net. Here are a few links. Click on one of the pictures below to get info from
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Secrets of Mars’ Suitability for Life
May be Down in the Dirt
The SETI Institute Press Release: Date: 5/24/08
 Shortly after NASA’s Phoenix lander settles onto Mars’ frigid, northern plains on May 25, it will undertake what is literally a microscopic examination of the red sand beneath its feet. By doing so, it may find evidence that liquid water – generally agreed to be a prerequisite of life – once pooled here.
Examination of the Martian soil is part of the task of a sophisticated on-board instrument package known as MECA, for Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA). Two microscopes are part of this package, and it is their close-up views that might supply conclusive evidence for a watery past. According to John Marshall, a planetary geologist with the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute, “this very detailed examination of the sand grains could supply a vital clue as to whether Mars was ever conducive to life – or if microscopic life might still have a foothold there.”
Imaging is a big part of the Phoenix mission. On the main deck of the lander is a stereo camera that will provide landscape views. The camera on the robotic arm can see sand and pebbles. But the MECA has both a low-power optical microscope for scrutinizing a field-of-view only millimeters in size, and an atomic force microscope able to make a “topographic map” of soil particles with detail a thousand times finer than its optical counterpart. The atomic force microscope works by means of a tiny stylus that “feels” its way over the sample.
Marshall’s job is to interpret close-ups from the optical microscope from a geologic perspective. The size of the soil particles, as well as their shape and surface texture, are all indicators of whether or not liquid water was present.
“If you see little clay particles,” Marshall notes, “You say ah, hah! There’s been aqueous weathering here – chemical alteration of the grains. It would be just like the clay you find in your back yard.”
While that would be exciting, it’s also possible that the soil particles have simply been processed by the stirring up of ground ice over thousands and millions of years. “That would be interesting, but not revolutionary,” says Marshall.
Richard Quinn, also at the SETI Institute’s Carl Sagan Center, is using MECA instruments to do a different kind of soil analysis: using the type of wet chemistry you may remember from high school. Within the MECA package are four box-like receptacles, or reaction chambers, each the size of a demitasse cup. Their inside walls are covered, polka-dot like, with 24 sensors. As Phoenix’s robotic arm pulls soil off the landscape, it deposits some samples into these water-filled chambers..
“Adding these soil samples to water allows us to look for is soluble salts,” says Quinn. Finding these would help establish what the prior water history was at the landing site, and might give an indication if this area of Mars was habitable.”
In his lab at NASA’s Ames Research Center, Quinn has set up equipment that duplicates the reaction chambers aboard Phoenix. He’s also collected samples of “Mars analog” soil samples from places on Earth where conditions mimic those on the Red Planet. On the basis of data coming back from Phoenix, Quinn’s assistants at Ames will choose a soil sample and see if they can duplicate the results coming from tens of millions of miles away. It’s a way of doing analysis by “remote control.”
“If MECA finds a sample with a significant salt content, and if that same sample – when run through Phoenix’s Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument – also turns out to contain organics … Well, that would be the best I could hope for.” says Quinn.
Marshall is philosophical about doing laboratory science from a distance to learn if Mars was ever a kinder, gentler world. “In a hundred years, our view of the Red Planet has gone from a small, ruddy dot imperfectly seen in an Earth-bound telescope to a detailed scrutiny of the tiniest irregularities on a grain of Martian sand,” he notes. “It’s more than remarkable.”
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Allen Telescope Array – Front Page News!
The Allen Telescope Array made front page news in the San Jose Mercury News on May 7th of this year. You can read the article here.
More ATA in the News
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 He’s Back!
Billy Barott has rejoined the team at Hat Creek for the summer. Barott, who is a Professor of Engineering at Emby-Riddle Aeronautical University, will be using his formidable signal processing and software skills to work on the ATA beamformer.
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NASA Kepler Mission Offers Opportunity
To Send Names Into Space!
Michael Mewhinney May 5, 2008
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - How cool would it be to have your name on board the spacecraft that discovers the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system? Well, here's your chance.
NASA today announced an opportunity for anyone to submit their name to be included on a DVD and rocketed into space as part of NASA's Kepler Mission, scheduled to launch in February 2009 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
"This mission will provide our first knowledge of Earth-like planets beyond our solar system," said Kepler Mission principal investigator William Borucki.
The Name in Space DVD will be mounted on the exterior of the spacecraft in November 2008. A video of the DVD being mounted on the spacecraft will be taken and posted on the Kepler Mission Website prior to the spacecraft being shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in December of this year. A copy of the DVD with all of the names and messages will be given to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Washington.
"It's a way for the public to participate in our space program," explained David Koch, deputy principal investigator for the Kepler Mission. According to Koch, there's no limit to the number of names that can be submitted for inclusion on the DVD.
"We're looking for several million names," Koch said. "The only limitation is people's interest."
Anyone who wants to participate in the Name in Space project should submit their name, the state or country they live in and if they desire, a short statement (500 words or less) answering the question: "Why do you think the Kepler Mission is important?" The deadline for submissions to the Kepler Mission Web site is Nov. 1, 2008.
Certificates of Participation will be available for printing from the Kepler Mission Web site. The certificate states that the person whose name has been submitted has been included on the list of names launched in 2009 with the Kepler spacecraft into orbit around the sun. There is no charge for participating in the project or for printing the certificate.
Name in Space is an international activity associated with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Johannes Kepler's publication of his first two laws of planetary motion.
To submit names and learn more about the Kepler Mission, visit: http://www.seti.org/epo/epo-programs/kepler.php and http://kepler.nasa.gov/
SETI Institute is a partner for the NASA Discovery Mission, Kepler that will seek evidence for Earth-sized planets in orbit about sun-like stars. This partnership represents the excellent fit between the Institute's and NASA's missions, both of which seek to make discoveries of life beyond Earth.
SETI Institute scientist, Jon Jenkins (of the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe) is a Co-investigator for the mission's signal processing work, while Dr. Jill Tarter, serves on the Science Working Group.
The Education and Public Outreach program will be led by SETI Institute Director of Education, Edna DeVore, working in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley.
NASA Ames will rely upon the SETI Institute to broaden the impact of its scientific mission through education and programs. Kepler joins SOFIA (a partnership between the SETI Institute, NASA Ames and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific) as the second significant such partnership between NASA and the SETI Institute. |
REU Program Started June 8th
The Europa room at the SETI Institute has been converted into the “classroom” for this year’s 17 REU Students. This year’s 10 week session will last until August 16th.
These sophomore and junior undergraduate students work with scientists at the SETI Institute and at the nearby NASA Ames Research Center on projects spanning the field of astrobiology from microbiology to observational astronomy.
The program includes a week-long field trip to the Allen Telescope Array, as well as a field experience at hydrothermal systems at nearby Lassen Volcanic National Park. Students will also participate in local field trips to places like the California Academy of Sciences and other nearby locations of scientific interest, and attend seminars, lectures, and discussions on astrobiology. They will live in dormitory housing at Ames Research Center and observatory dorm facilities at Hat Creek. At the end of the summer they will give presentations on their research projects, and the best projects will be selected for submission to a national scientific conference, which the selected students will be funded to attend. |
“Seeing in the Dark”
Returns to PBS June 11, 2008
Internet Telescope Available to Summer School and Summer Camp Teachers
 Seeing in the Dark, Timothy Ferris’ high-definition television spectacular on amateur astronomy and the wonders of the night sky, returns to PBS on Wednesday, June 11, 2008 at eight pm (check local listings). Critics have called the show (which premiered last September 19) “a rhapsodic sight-and-sound odyssey into the night sky” (Associated Press) by “the greatest science writer of his generation” (The New York Times).
“This is not your standard one-dimensional, expository science documentary,” wrote David Brody of Space.com. “Seeing in the Dark is more like a reality show from inside a love affair.” “The high-definition astrophotography looks like something out of Star Wars,” wrote Joshua Zumbrun in the Washington Post. “Who remembered that our real universe could look that way, too?”
Commenting on the new airdate, Ferris said he hoped that the second national showing would continue to attract teachers and students to the program website, http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark. Over a million Americans have seen the film, and hundreds of thousands have visited the website, taking advantage of its resources for teachers, students, and families.
The website’s most popular features include customizable star charts for every visitor’s time and location; astronomy activities that you can download for use in classrooms, in summer camps, and with families; and the Seeing in the Dark Internet Telescope. “The Internet Telescope is available free of charge to all students and teachers,” Ferris noted. “Just request an object through the website and we will shoot an image and email it back to you, usually within a few days.” During the summer, summer school and summer camp instructors and students can also use the telescope.
The film -- based on Ferris’ book Seeing in the Dark, named by The New York Times as one of the ten best books published in 2002 -- shows how amateur astronomers and casual stargazers are getting in touch with nature on the largest scales. “I hope it will encourage viewers to make stargazing part of their lives,” Ferris said. “The website provides them with most of the tools they need to get started. Using its resources you can print out a star chart for your location, make a red-light flashlight to preserve your night vision using materials already around the house, and be outdoors learning the night sky all within ten or fifteen minutes.”
The project’s educational outreach director is astronomer and educator Andrew Fraknoi, head of the astronomy department at Foothill College near San Francisco and SETI Institute Board Trustee. |
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