[ExI] Fermi Paradox and GRB bursts

[BillK]

Next Big Future points to a new study about how a nearby Galactic
Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) can be a threat to life.

<http://arxiv.org/abs/1409.2506>
Quote:
Using recent determinations of the rate of GRBs, their luminosity
function and properties of their host galaxies, we estimate the
probability that a life-threatening (lethal) GRB would take place.
We find that the probability of a lethal GRB is much larger in the
inner Milky Way (95% within a radius of 4 kpc from the galactic
center), making it inhospitable to life. Only at the outskirts of the
Milky Way, at more than 10 kpc from the galactic center, this
probability drops below 50%.
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One more factor pointing to life being rare and occurring far enough
apart that contact with other aliens will be unusual.


BillK