Tag Archives: life

Tardigrade: The Winter Soldier

Earth’s most resilient organism has once again astounded the scientific community. Tardigrades, also referred to as “waterbears”, have successfully demonstrated the ability to survive deep freezing for decades. In November of 1983 a Japanese research team harvested moss while on an anarctic expedition, contained within this harsh environment (as with many other equally harsh areas) […] Continue reading

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The Fermi Paradox

To be, or not to be? Is that really the question? According to the Fermi Paradox, it’s a perfectly valid one. The Fermi Paradox, coined after Enrico Fermi, is a theory that addresses life elsewhere in the universe as a probable reality. The only issue is, however, that no other forms of life (that we […] Continue reading

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How Astronomical Are Our Chances of Finding Extraterrestrial Life?

I’ve always thought that we weren’t alone in the world–and my Astronomy class has really helped to confirm my thoughts. After studying the Drake Equation, it seems almost certain that intelligent life and life that could eventually communicate with us must exist. After all, the Earth is only 4.6 billion years old–a baby compared to […] Continue reading

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Half Empty or Half Full?

Fermi’s paradox has some unsettling points depending on how you see the glass. Continue reading

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Bringing It All Together

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

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Meteorite Chemicals Form Building Blocks of Life

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

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Water and the Future of Life Beyond Earth

The search for habitable life beyond Earth is a driving force to the human existence. For a place to be …

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Sending Chuck Berry to Space

In 1977, NASA launched the spacecraft Voyager 1 into space to observe Jupiter and Saturn and, eventually, to travel outside …

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Let’s Talk About Extremophiles

Extremophiles are organisms that can live in environments that are considered ‘extreme’ due to conditions that make ‘normal’ life basically impossible. These conditions could be extremely hot, reaching temperatures of 240 degrees Fahrenheit, or and environment with very little to no oxygen. There are many different kinds of extremophiles grouped into categories depending on the […] Continue reading

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NASA’s NExSS Project to Lead the Way for the Search for Alien Life

NASA is currently assembling a group that it plans to call the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), which will be a group of specialists from various scientific fields in hopes to study the nature of exoplanets and figure out if some might be suitable for life. Currently the project has garnered support among planetary and […] Continue reading

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