Author Archives: pMurs

Bringing It All Together

Posted on April 30, 2015 by pMurs

Wow, it’s been a whole semester already. I’m about to be a senior and that is absolutely terrifying. I swear I was a freshman like two weeks ago. Of course, it’s all relative. If this time has been like a blink of an eye for me, it’s really some infinitesimally small fraction of the first […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class, Universe | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Bringing It All Together

Meteorite Chemicals Form Building Blocks of Life

Posted on April 29, 2015 by pMurs

A research team at the Tuscia University in Italy has released a study suggesting that the kick-starter for early life may have hitched a ride to earth on the backs of meteorites. Formaldehyde, an organic compound that is posited as the key building block for early microbial life, is known to exist in the centers […] Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Meteorite Chemicals Form Building Blocks of Life

The Exoplanet Gold Rush

Posted on April 7, 2015 by pMurs

The discovery and study of exoplanets, or planets in other solar systems, is one of the newest sub-fields of astronomy. The reason for this is that, prior to the mid 1990’s, we didn’t really have the technology to find these planets. Through various means, the discovery of exoplanets has taken off at an exponential rate […] Continue reading →

Posted in Exoplanets | Tagged , , | Comments Off on The Exoplanet Gold Rush

If Earth had Rings

Posted on April 6, 2015 by pMurs

One of the most distinctive astronomical features of our solar system is the brilliant ring system of Saturn. Due to their position, scale and material composition, Saturn’s rings have a visibility and tone not present in the ring systems of other planets. I wondered what it would look like if earth had rings and what […] Continue reading →

Posted in Jovians, Planet Rings, Terrestrials | Tagged , , | Comments Off on If Earth had Rings

Under the Sea

Posted on March 16, 2015 by pMurs

Earlier this week, scientists at NASA announced that Saturn’s sixth-largest moon, Enceladus, has a warm ocean at its southern pole. More importantly, it has strong evidence of hydrothermal activity on the ocean floor, the first of its kind found outside of Earth. This is a huge discovery because most scientists agree that life on Earth […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Under the Sea

“You want me to hack the planet?”

Posted on March 16, 2015 by pMurs

There are a compendium of factors that allow for life to exist on Earth, one of the most important of which is our core. Earth’s core is made up of molten metal that swirls and churns, generating a powerful magnetic field that shields the planet from radiation and solar wind. Our core is vital to […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Terrestrials | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on “You want me to hack the planet?”

Histocial Astronomers in Context

Posted on February 4, 2015 by pMurs

Name Birth Death Nicolaus Copernicus 2/19/1473 5/24/1543 Johannes Kepler 12/27/1571 11/15/1630 Tycho Brahe 12/14/1546 10/24/1601 Galileo Galilei 2/15/1564 1/8/1642 Isaac Newton 1/4/1643 3/31/1727 Kepler, Brahe and Galileo all lived around the same time although Brahe was one generation removed from the other two. Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish mathematician and astronomer who lived and worked […] Continue reading →

Posted in Historical | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Histocial Astronomers in Context

El Castillo

Posted on January 24, 2015 by pMurs

They say anyone can build a bridge that stands up, but it takes an engineer to build one that barely stands up. While this quote might be slightly exaggerating the engineering prowess of the average Joe, the fact is that building things accurately is difficult. The architectural and structural accomplishments of the Italian Renaissance are […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on El Castillo

A Mole of Moles

Posted on January 24, 2015 by pMurs

Like most freshmen at Vanderbilt, I took Chemistry 102a during my first semester. On the first day of class, we (ostensibly, seeing as I slept through it) discussed the concept of a mole. A mole is a unit of measurement, generally used to describe the number of atoms or molecules of something, of which there […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Mole of Moles

Victory

Posted on January 14, 2015 by pMurs

This is a picture of me drinking chocolate milk at the top of Riley Peak in Conifer, Colorado. The picture was taken over spring break this past year. My friends and I had visited the original Chipotle the day before and I had bought two chocolate milk juice boxes and only drank one at lunch. […] Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , | Comments Off on Victory