Tag Archives: life

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

Water and the Future of Life Beyond Earth

Posted on April 29, 2015 by adyacob

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

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Class, Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Water and the Future of Life Beyond Earth

Sending Chuck Berry to Space

Posted on April 29, 2015 by emilyksharp

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

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens, Class, Instruments | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Sending Chuck Berry to Space

Let’s Talk About Extremophiles

Posted on April 28, 2015 by dillonkoval

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 →

Posted in Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Let’s Talk About Extremophiles

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

Posted on April 28, 2015 by agiantchicken

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 →

Posted in Class, Exoplanets | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on NASA’s NExSS Project to Lead the Way for the Search for Alien Life

Silicon based life

Posted on April 27, 2015 by newbeelity

The silicon atom has been discussed as the basis for an alternative biochemistry system, since silicon is in the same group of periodical table as carbon and shares many chemical properties with carbon. As silicone-based chemicals are much more stable than equivalent hydrocarbons in a sulfuric-acid-rich environment that is found in many locations in the… Continue reading →

Posted in Class | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Silicon based life

Is Anybody Out There?

Posted on April 27, 2015 by michellelei

While eating lunch with some colleagues in 1950, Enrico Fermi made an innocent yet profound comment about life in the universe. As a well-known physicist, Fermi knew that the universe was old enough to possibly have other life present, especially within the Milky Way. If this was the case, there was an obvious question –… Continue reading Is Anybody Out There? Continue reading →

Posted in Space Travel, Universe | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Is Anybody Out There?

The Toughest Creature in the World

Posted on April 6, 2015 by emilyksharp

In the early 1700s, several different scientists examining the components of water and water habitats came across a miniscule creature …

Continue reading →

Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Space Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on The Toughest Creature in the World

Other Life in our Solar System?

Posted on March 16, 2015 by christophermfitzgerald

Through the use of computer modeling, a team of NASA scientists have confirmed that Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, contains water under its icy top layers. New modeling that takes into account salinity of the planet’s water suggests that below the surface … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Aliens | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Other Life in our Solar System?

The Search for Life and the (Not So) Habitable Zone

Posted on February 14, 2015 by dillonkoval

The question of other life in the Universe is one that has long plagued scientists and astronomers. The pure size of it makes it supposedly statistically probable that if life can happen on Earth, then it can (and probably does/has) happen elsewhere. Because the only type of life that we know is our own, scientists […] Continue reading →

Posted in Universe | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Search for Life and the (Not So) Habitable Zone