Glow from universe’s first objects and why intelligent plants are unlikely

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:g Stars - The faint, lumpy glow given off by the very first objects in the universe may have been detected with the best precision yet, using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. These faint objects might be wildly massive stars or voracious black holes. They are too far away to be seen individually, but Spitzer has captured new, convincing evidence of what appears to be the collective pattern of their infrared light. See article.g Life - New research published June 8 in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Genomics reveals that the Malaysian parasitic plant Rafflesia cantleyi, with its 50cm diameter flowers, has 'stolen' genes from its host Tetrastigma rafflesiae. Analysis of these genes shows that their functions range from respiration to metabolism, and that some of them have even replaced the parasites own gene activity. See article.g Imagining - Cold plants ever be intelligent as is often shown in science fiction videos? Probably not. To quote the Web site “Evolutionary Psychology Primer”: "That’s because organisms that don't move, don't have brains. Trees don't have brains, bushes don't have brains, flowers ...