Microscopic but Adorable!

Posted on May 4, 2021 by adisonfields
Tardigrades: nature's great survivors | Biology | The Guardian
Tardigrade (“Water Bear”)

One of the biggest indicators that there is other life in the universe we can see by looking at our own world.  All around us, in some of the most unexpected places, we can find thriving extremophiles.  These tiny creatures live under conditions that no other living beings on Earth could.  Despite their seemingly odd love of intense environments, these organisms are quite fascinating.  Here is one of the coolest!  Tardigrades are polyextremophiles.  This means that they can thrive under multiple harsh conditions.  They are able to withstand temperatures from -328 degrees F all the way up to 304 degrees F.  Additionally, they can live without water and oxygen, in “boiling alcohol,” and under a thousand times the radiation humans can withstand.  In order to live under such severe conditions, these creatures had to learn to adapt.  One method of survival is going into cryptobiosis.  This is a state in which bodily functions will shut down and the tardigrade will shrink, being called a “tun,” until conditions become a bit more habitable.  In addition to being able to survive such extreme environments, these creatures win the award for cutest extremophile.  Even though they are only a millimeter long, these little guys are fairly adorable.  They are even nicknamed “water bear!” 

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All about Aurora

Posted on May 4, 2021 by wslopes
Source

The Northern Lights are one of the most intriguing phenomena of the natural world, and have been attributed to many different things throughout history. The name itself comes from Galileo, who names them after the Roman goddess Aurora, who in Greek was known as Eos and described as rosy-fingered. Many cultures have their own interpretations of the origins of the Northern Lights, with some native cultures saying it is where reindeer originate, and some Scandinavian ones saying it was an indication from god of Winter Ulr on the longest nights of the year. Reports of these lights have been around for at least centuries, with some interpreting cave drawings as depictions of flames in the air, denoting the lights. While these explanations are more fitting of the beauty of these lights, the real one is one rooted more in chemistry than divine intervention. They occur when material from solar flares interact with our magnetic field, which prompts certain particles of the atmosphere to release photons of light. Though not beautiful in the traditional sense, this, to me, is a very cool happening worthy of the same praise. It is literally the Sun’s ejection disturbing our magnetic field and results in one of the most beautiful sights on Earth.

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Looking Back Over This Semester

Posted on May 4, 2021 by weatherbysofferings
The Milky Way from Earth (Source)

I’ll begin this post by warning that it’s going to be a rather frank conversation about some mental health stuff. Nothing concerning or whatever, but I thought I’d put that out front. 

Throughout this semester, I have struggled with my mental health. For me, this is mostly in the form of OCD, particularly obsessive thought patterns. This means that I get ideas or worries stuck in my head and they sort of loop through my mind constantly. A large part of these thought patterns had to do with the idea of existence. Sounds cliché, but I was essentially going through something of an existential crisis. The meaning of life, the cause behind everything, what truth was. I couldn’t escape these thoughts and worries about what everything meant. 

But as part of astronomy, I was constantly reminded of how grand the universe truly was. In everything looked at, there was a startling, overwhelming beauty and grandeur. From the planets and moons in our solar system, all wonderfully unique and breathtaking in their own ways, to the massive stretches of stars and galaxies that spread infinitely beyond us. It makes one feel small, in a way, but it’s a good kind of small. That no matter what happens to you, or the people around you, or whatever the point may all be – there is so much beauty and wonder to be had, as far as we can see. Each little glimpse we get into the expanse beyond our planet is an expression of majesty and truth. In this way, our study of the sky ironically grounded me here on Earth. The infinite is so much greater than me and my worries, and who cares if it is cold and indifferent, unknowing of my existence? It is a gift to just be present and be able to gaze upon its beauty at all.

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The Fermi Paradox and Great Filters

Posted on May 4, 2021 by weatherbysofferings
Enrico Fermi, the scientist who proposed the Fermi Paradox (Source)

We briefly discussed the Fermi Paradox in class. However, one major potential “explanation” of the paradox went undiscussed: the idea of various “great filters.” These great filters are supposedly things that naturally arise in the course of life’s and/or civilization’s development that prevent them from becoming long-lasting intelligent life forms. These could be a wide variety of things: it could be biological, and that such intelligence is actually exceptionally biologically rare, and evolution rarely necessitates such a feature. It could be that it is societal, and that every intelligent civilization will ultimately destroy itself through dangerous discoveries, such as the use and abuse of thermonuclear weaponry. It could be technological, and once civilizations achieve artificial intelligence, these AIs ultimately cause a crisis that renders the civilization effectively dead.

One explanation that I find very interesting is the idea that the reason we have not witnessed exterrestrial life is because technology reaches a certain point that civilizations can fully simulate reality, and as such, effectively live in a fully “real” virtual reality while their AIs and machinery go about powering and operating things. In cases like this, there might be no need to ever expand beyond one’s home planets, and technology might have advanced far enough that little energy is used for these processes and they can extract the maximum energy from their star and surrounding objects! In this sort of great filter, ultimately everyone has no interest in discovery, because they can essentially live forever in their own utopian world. Is this idea depressing, or uplifting? It depends on one’s own views of course. But it is interesting to consider nonetheless. All in all, there may be a great filter, or many of them, or none at all. But there’s something we don’t understand yet, and so the Fermi Paradox persists.

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Space Exploration: History, Ethics, and Potentially-Conflicting Interests

Posted on May 4, 2021 by rightascensionanddeclinolan

But why, some say the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountian [sic]? Why – 35 years ago – why fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas? We choose to go to the Moon, we choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one in which we intend to win, and the others too.

President Kennedy, 1962 (source)

Despite World War II’s devastating consequences, shortly after it concluded, another conflict emerged: the Cold War.  From the Korean War to the Vietnam War, the United States and Soviet Union fought indirectly, hence the war being “cold.”  Ironically, so intense was each country’s desire for Earth-bound ideological dominance that the war stretched into space!  In addition to proxy wars, the US and USSR engaged in the Space Race, “where each side tried to show that it had the better scientists and technology by accomplishing certain space missions first” (source).

On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, “(Russian for “traveler”), the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit.  Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans.  In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets,” (source).  In other words, both sides wanted to get to space first, so the US wasn’t happy when the USSR beat it to the punch.

The next year, the US launched Explorer I, and President Eisenhower “signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration” (source).  Additionally, Eisenhower created “created two national security-oriented space programs that would operate simultaneously with NASA’s program”: one to work under the US Air Force to “exploit[] the military potential of space” and the other to work under the CIA, Air Force, and NRO to “use orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union and its allies.”  To round out 1958, NASA announced it was creating a program to send human passengers into space (source)!

Today, we can look back sixty-three years to the founding of NASA, a product of the Cold War, and recognize how far we’ve come: we’ve walked on the Moon, visited other worlds, and taken lots and lots of cool pictures along the way.

All along our journey to space, there have been many questions, the most striking of which – in my opinion – is that of the ethics of space exploration in the first place: should we continue exploring space given the large number of humanitarian problems on Earth, or should we refocus our time and money on more worldly issues (related article)?  Let me know what you think in the comments below!

“Earthrise,” photographed by astronaut William Anders.  Courtesy of NASA.
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Protein and the Tardigrade

Posted on May 4, 2021 by wslopes
Source

The poster child of extremophiles, the tardigrade, is well known for its abilities to survive the heights of the Himalayas and the vacuum of space. Also, it has the fitting nickname of the “water bear”, and the similarities to a bear might extend further past just looks. Tardigrades have been completely reanimated after being dried for 8 years, and, though never replicated, a scientist claimed that there was slight reanimation of tardigrades dried in moss for 120 years. This species has been the subject of much experimentation, naturally, but many questions remain as to just how they are able to survive these insane situations. One interesting development that has been made is in regards to how they are able to survive the radiation that exists in space. It has been found that they protect the dismembering of their DNA by having a cloud of occluding proteins that block the radiation. The abilities of this species has been recognized for over 300 years, and there is evidence of their presence in the Cambrian period over 500 million years ago. The main question I still have after learning all this is why, specifically in regards to the protein protection of DNA. What conditions on Earth were so similarly dire to that of the vacuum of space, that this species was able to develop defense mechanisms that protect them in both places? The water bear is truly an astonishing organism, and could unlock answers to many questions we still have.

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Culmination Reflection Post

Posted on May 4, 2021 by zhengjs1
Milky Way Galaxy (Source)

After taking Astronomy 2110, not only has my perspective of our Solar System changed and widened, but also did my view on the universe as a whole.

Perhaps one of the biggest eye-openers for me came near the beginning of the semester when we learned just how vast our Universe is as a whole. Before this class, I knew that Earth was small when compared to our solar system and the Milky Way Galaxy. However, this class made me realize just how trivial our presence is in the Milky Way and just how large our galaxy is with it being home to more than tens of millions of stars with millions of them being larger than our very own Sun. Something else I have learned is also the ways scientists have invented to find planets and stars outside of our solar system. I used to only know that scientists use large telescopes such the Hubble space telescope to explore the universe, but nothing about how they did it. This class taught me not only the different types of telescopes (infrared, ultraviolet, x-ray, etc.) with their advantages and limitations, but also the methods that help scientists analyze extra-solar planets. From the usage of Astrometry to the Doppler and Transit method, scientists have discovered thousands of planets that were once unobservable with just telescopes alone. From these planets, scientists have even pinpointed a few that might even be habitable in the future.

Through this journey, I was able to gain a far more open-minded perspective on our position in the solar system and Universe as well. I’m excited for the future of space exploration and can’t wait to see how much more we’ll be able to discover about this place we call home.

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Blog 7: Extremophiles

Posted on May 4, 2021 by mattj3

Extremophiles are organisms that thrive within severe abiotic environments while maintaining the ability to grow and reproduce. These organisms inhabit areas of extreme temperature, pressure, salinity, acidity, and radiation, surviving through environmentally defined adaptations. Extremophilic organisms are based within both prokaryotic and eukaryotic life, meaning their existence ranges throughout all domains of life. Through the research of such organisms, insights are observed from each environmentally refined adaptation, leading to a deeper understanding of biological function and the range of environmental conditions under which life can survive. Extremophiles are further subdivided into categories based on the environment they exist in. These include thermophiles and psychrophile (characterising extreme warm and cold temperatures), barophiles (high pressure levels), halophiles (extreme salinity), and acidophiles (or conditions with high acidic ph values).

Image of H. pylori

Helicobacter pylori is an example of an extremophile, specifically an acidophile, meaning it thrives in extremely acidic environments. H. pylori is a bacteria that inhabits the high acidic conditions of the stomach. This microbiota secretes the enzyme urease that protects to organisms from the stomach’s hydrochloric acid.

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Aliens in Pop Culture

Posted on May 4, 2021 by bellagoodnight

Picture an alien. What did you think it looked like? Maybe you thought of a small green creature with a big head and big eyes, or maybe you thought of ET or one of the people from Avatar or Jar Jar Binks. No matter what you thought of, your picture was likely influenced by pop culture in some way because we don’t really know what aliens look like. Sure, maybe they will have some similar features to us because through evolution, it may be useful on most planets to have hands, but overall, we don’t have any concrete information on what aliens could look like.

So why do they often look so similar or familiar in pop culture? Part of the answer lies in the technical side of things. In movies and television, aliens may have 2 legs, 2 arms, and a head because that is what is going to be easiest with a human actor. They can add all sorts of prosthetics but because it is a person playing a role, there are some restrictions on how they will look or move. Now, there is able to be a bit more creativity because of the capabilities of CGI technology! It is really amazing what can be computer generated for movies, but still even these more monstrous or unique aliens often have a sense of familiarity. This is in part due to the fact that people must get inspiration from somewhere, and it often comes from nature, including weird animals like goblin sharks. People are limited by things we know, and making a new alien is no exception.

Another reason aliens are often somewhat humanoid or familiar in pop culture is because you want an audience to relate to the creature in some way a lot of the time. If it is too far disconnected from anything we know here on Earth, people won’t have the same empathetic connection that is necessary for making an audience care about your characters.

Picture of famous pop culture aliens

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A New Hope (For Alien Life)

Posted on May 4, 2021 by connorrobbwilcox
Life finds a way in the universe

Astronomy 2110 has been a real pleasure of a class to attend. Not only have I learned so much about Earth, but also about the rest of the solar system. I have discovered the secrets of our planet, the planets that are our neighbors, and our incredible star that I would have never known if I dismissed taking this course. However, ironically what has most excited me was what we learned the least about because it was at the very end of the class. These topics were the the worlds that could be habitable and the possibility of life outside of Earth.

I learned that there are worlds in our solar system that you might not think are habitable but could be. These are Pluto and the moons of the Jovian planets, including Europa of Jupiter and Titan and Enceladus of Saturn. These worlds are geologically active, meaning they have surface features constantly being reformed by volcanoes, tectonics, changes in temperature, and weather. Titan for instance, has volcanoes but instead of having regular lava, they may spew water ice, hydrocarbons or a variety of other materials into Titan’s thick atmosphere. Enceladus has tectonics, different types of terrain, and geysers of salty ice grains, water vapor, and organic compounds. Europa too has an atmosphere made of mostly oxygen and water vapor, and a possible ocean beneath its icy surface, with hydrothermal vents. But the most strange and mysterious is Pluto. It has a very small size yet it has mountain ranges and internal heat, meaning it is somehow active. Because of such geological activity, there is a possibility, if only a small one, of life on each of these worlds, which is incredibly exciting. This can be very promising for finding extraterrestrial life outside of our solar system. With nearly 4,400 exoplanets discovered already, there must be some type of life out in the rest of the universe, and I can’t wait until we find it.

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