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Are We Alone? |
Astrobiology, Extreme Environments, and Mars Exploration!
The seventh seminar in the JPL series, Are We Alone?, was held on Wednesday, May 2, 2007, from 6:30 p.m. to
8:00 p.m. Eastern time. The presenter was Dr. Jack Farmer, Full Professor in the Department of Geological
Sciences and Director of Arizona State University's Astrobiology Program. Dr. Farmer talked about
astrobiology and extreme environments in relation to Mars exploration.
Thirty-one (31) participants were present at the live Web Seminar in addition to the presenter, the moderator,
Mr. Brian Grigsby also from Arizona State University, and the NSTA staff. Participating educators represented the
states of Alaska, California, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Wyoming.
Dr. Jack Farmer talked about three main ideas in this web seminar: (1) The search for Martian life involves two
distinctly different paths: Looking for extant life and looking for fossil biosignatures. (2) Life is found
over a much broader range of environmental extremes than once believed, including extremes of temperature, pH,
salinity, water, and oxygen availability. (3) This fact opens up exploration for life elsewhere in the Solar
System to an equally broad range of surface and subsurface environments. All participants received a copy of
NSTA's SciGuide about A Close-Up Look at the Red Planet, grades 5-8.
Here are some comments provided by the participants at the end of the Web Seminar:
- "I am starting a unit on Astrobiology in my astronomy classes and this seminar gave me some more background."
- "I really like the approach of showing what is necessary for life on Earth and linking that to resources
on other planets."
- "I am working on an upcoming exhibit at the Museum centering on exploration,
so this topic is very relevant as we start to think about exploring the solar system further."
- "I teach marine biology, so the material has some relevance in terms of understanding the parallels between
extreme environments."
Thanks to the participants and the presenter for the learning opportunity, the interactions, and a job well done!
Websites
For more information contact webseminars@nsta.org
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Underwritten by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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