Wildaly Meyers Santiago

INGL 3257-002 Public Speaking

Prof. Sacheen Mobley

Annotated Bibliography Assignment #1

September 28th, 2009

Ball, Philip. (2005, August). Water and Life: Seeking the solution. Nature, 436 (25), 10841085.
The article begins discussing the importance that NASA investigations have given to water as
the key to finding extraterrestrial life. It gives explanations into the relationship between the
function of water and its link to life here on Earth. Also, it details a couple of investigations that
study the properties of water. Other topics explored are types of liquids found on Jupiter,
Saturn and Uranus. By the end, the author questions NASAs strategy to focus the search for
other life with water as it might overlook other worlds that may contain life forms not waterbased.

Harrison, Albert A. (2009). The future of SETI: Finite effort or search without end?
Futures, 41, 554-561.
The analysis presented in this article, chronicles the activities directed towards the search for
extraterrestrial intelligence, also known as SETI. It provides insight into how technological
advances and other developments have made the search continuous and how it has intensified
over the years. It also examines the aspects that make SETI motivated culturally and
psychologically. The article finishes by stating that whenever there are scientists with the
capability and equipment to carry on in a credible manner, the search will continue.

Morrison, David. (2006). Astrobiology is the New Modern Framework Encompassing

SETI... and so much else. Skeptical Inquirer, 30 (3), 33-34.
The article mainly explains the discipline known as astrobiology. It describes the purpose and
how the field brings together all kinds of scientists to a similar aim. From this discipline two
scientific journals and a NASA program have been developed, as well as international
conferences and societies. The author also discusses how it is standard for SETI to raise
skepticism, but that while there may no success in our lifetime, not searching at all would make
failure a certainty.

Pickrell, John. (2006, September 4). "Top 10: Controversial pieces of evidence for
extraterrestrial life." New Scientist. Retrieved from
<http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9943-top-10-controversial-pieces-ofevidence-for-extraterrestrial-life.html?full=true>.
This article gives a list of important events in history that have led to be considered
controversial evidence for extraterrestrial life. It gives a brief yet significant explanation of each
piece of evidence in chronological order. Some items on the list include unexplained events,
such as radio signals, while others are Mars-related investigations. All of the items presented
have taken place either in research universities or are linked to NASA programs and
researchers.