Lookingfor Life Beyond Earth
| INSIDE |
| Is Anybody Out There?
After a slump, the hunt for ET is back. Reflections From a Warm Little Pond
The question of how life began may not be as easy to answer as we thought. | 
The Search Starts Here
Tube worms thrive in the harshest conditions, in total darkness at the bottom of the sea, with the help of hydrothermal vents, fueling hopes that life might exist on other planets and moons.
IMAGE: NOAA | Can You Relate?
You may not spend your nights dreaming of phylogeny, but somebody has to. A Question of Timing
Using DNA as a molecular clock, researchers have clarified some of evolutions big questions. Life in the Extreme
Once, everything with a pulse was turned into a Popsicle, except ... Mars Revisited
An old favorite is back in the spotlight. And remember: Life doesn't need much. An Ocean in Space
The moon Europa, like Goldilocks' porridge, might be juuuuust right.
This special report first appeared in the January 2001 issue of Research/Penn State, a magazine covering research at Pennsylvania State University. It has been republished here with permission. About the project |
It isn't a new field: CarlSagan was arguing for the plausibility of other worlds -- and other life -- wayback in 1966. But astrobiology, in recent years, has seen a rebirth. Therapid-fire discovery of a few dozen extrasolar planets will do that. Ditto thefinding of what could be fossil bacteria in a hunk of Martian meteorite.
Then there are the freshinsights about life here at home. Who knew, 15 years ago, that there was moreof it embedded in rocks beneath Earth's surface than there is above ground? Orthat living things thrive in boiling hotsprings and Antarctic wastes?
On the lookout for life ofthe extraterrestrial kind, today's astrobiologists -- trained in chemistry,geology, and molecular biology, as well as astronomy -- have refined theirideas about where, and whether, they're likely to find it.
In 1998, NASA announcedformation of an Astrobiology Institute, a partnership formed for study of"the origin, distribution, evolution, and future of life in theuniverse." Penn State, one of 11 lead members, took on astrobiology as thetopic at last year's annual Frontiers of Science series.
This special report isbased on talks by three planetary scientists, two molecular biologists, and ageologist.
Astrobiology, those whoattended the talks learned, is no loopy fringe pursuit; it is coordinated,systematic, and broadly interdisciplinary. And it involves a lot more than justouter space.
ASTROBIOLOGY< THE LATEST NEWS > SEARCH FOR LIFE
NEXT PAGE: Is ThereAnybody Out There?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | >> Continue with this story >
advertisement
