Mass Extinction, Soon?

Posted on May 1, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

It’s no secret that that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago caused a chain of environmental disasters. Countless species were driven to extinction, evaporated by the impact, suffocated by volcanic ash, eradicated by the rapid climate change. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever have the technology to predict when the next extinction event will happen. Does that mean that humans will just have to deal with the aftermath, if it happens in our species’ lifetime? Or is there a way to create a “back-up drive”, so to speak?

This is one of the biggest reasons why the space industry is so motivated to get us to Mars. In our current generation, we’d like to just explore it, learn more about it, do research on how it was formed and why it turned out to be the way that it is. Even if the idea of colonizing Mars is far, far, far into the future and not feasible within the next few generations, it’s a start. Instead of piling all of our valuable eggs – the human species, our technological advancements, our understanding of physics and the universe – into one basket, we’ll be working our way towards a second basket. So if some sort of mass extinction event were to occur, such as a devastating volcanic eruption or another enormous asteroid impact, we would have a back-up of all of the knowledge and technology that we have here on Earth. We would be set behind significantly in terms of advancement and progress, but we wouldn’t lose everything.

 

mass-extinction-plants-survive-1024x558

 

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Mass Extinction, Soon?

Posted on May 1, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

It’s no secret that that an asteroid impact 65 million years ago caused a chain of environmental disasters. Countless species were driven to extinction, evaporated by the impact, suffocated by volcanic ash, eradicated by the rapid climate change. It’s unlikely that we’ll ever have the technology to predict when the next extinction event will happen. Does that mean that humans will just have to deal with the aftermath, if it happens in our species’ lifetime? Or is there a way to create a “back-up drive”, so to speak?

This is one of the biggest reasons why the space industry is so motivated to get us to Mars. In our current generation, we’d like to just explore it, learn more about it, do research on how it was formed and why it turned out to be the way that it is. Even if the idea of colonizing Mars is far, far, far into the future and not feasible within the next few generations, it’s a start. Instead of piling all of our valuable eggs – the human species, our technological advancements, our understanding of physics and the universe – into one basket, we’ll be working our way towards a second basket. So if some sort of mass extinction event were to occur, such as a devastating volcanic eruption or another enormous asteroid impact, we would have a back-up of all of the knowledge and technology that we have here on Earth. We would be set behind significantly in terms of advancement and progress, but we wouldn’t lose everything.

 

mass-extinction-plants-survive-1024x558

 

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What Is Hyperthermophile

Posted on May 1, 2018 by lin0214

Hyperthermophile is an organism that is able to live and thrive at high temperatures, compared to the suitable environment for survival for most of the lives on Earth. For example, a hyperthermophile can handle a temperature above 80°C, which is 176-degree Fahrenheit. The first identified hyperthermophile is Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, which is both a hyperthermophile and an acidophile. It was discovered in the late 1960s in a hot, acidic spring in Yellowstone National Park.

Hyperthermophile is one of the three types of thermophiles. The other two types are the obligate thermophiles and the facultative thermophiles. The obligate thermophile is unable to survive at relatively lower temperatures, whereas the facultative thermophile is able to survive and even thrive at a relatively low temperature. On the contrary, hyperthermophile likes high temperatures, usually above 80 °C and this range is appropriate for its growth.

 

Thermophiles-Firehole-Spring
Picture from National Park Service

 

 

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Life in Our Solar System

Posted on May 1, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

One of the biggest questions that philosophers and scientists alike ask: Are we alone in the universe? Is it possible that there’s sentient life outside of our small blue planet? The Fermi Paradox asks us this question. The universe is so big. Using even the most conservative estimations of exoplanets in the habitable zone, calculations show that there millions and millions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone. So where is everyone?

Scientists hoped to find evidence of water and other habitable regions on celestial objects within our solar system. It’s theorized that there was once liquid water on Mars’ surface, or that tiny bacteria could survive in Europa’s icy underwater oceans. But what would this mean for us, if we did find evidence of life on these nearby planets and moons?

The implications wouldn’t be good. The idea of a Great Filter explains why we haven’t seen any evidence from other galactic civilizations. In other words, it should be hard for sentient life to evolve. Given that our solar system is a tiny, tiny fraction of the entire universe, finding evidence of life right here in our own backyard implies that life is easy to come across.

This contradicts the Fermi Paradox above! But there’s alternative explanation that satisfies the Paradox: It is easy for life to evolve… but it’s difficult for life to sustain. If it’s easy for life to evolve, but we haven’t heard anything from large civilizations, it’s reasonable to assume that the Great Filter is ahead of us. Humanity will have to make some sort of evolutionary leap in order to ensure our survival into the far future.

So all in all, it would probably be bad news if we were to ever find life on Mars, Europa, Titan, etc. Here’s to hoping that all planets we come across are a barren wasteland!

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Life in Our Solar System

Posted on May 1, 2018 by hellouniverse1234

One of the biggest questions that philosophers and scientists alike ask: Are we alone in the universe? Is it possible that there’s sentient life outside of our small blue planet? The Fermi Paradox asks us this question. The universe is so big. Using even the most conservative estimations of exoplanets in the habitable zone, calculations show that there millions and millions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy alone. So where is everyone?

Scientists hoped to find evidence of water and other habitable regions on celestial objects within our solar system. It’s theorized that there was once liquid water on Mars’ surface, or that tiny bacteria could survive in Europa’s icy underwater oceans. But what would this mean for us, if we did find evidence of life on these nearby planets and moons?

The implications wouldn’t be good. The idea of a Great Filter explains why we haven’t seen any evidence from other galactic civilizations. In other words, it should be hard for sentient life to evolve. Given that our solar system is a tiny, tiny fraction of the entire universe, finding evidence of life right here in our own backyard implies that life is easy to come across.

This contradicts the Fermi Paradox above! But there’s alternative explanation that satisfies the Paradox: It is easy for life to evolve… but it’s difficult for life to sustain. If it’s easy for life to evolve, but we haven’t heard anything from large civilizations, it’s reasonable to assume that the Great Filter is ahead of us. Humanity will have to make some sort of evolutionary leap in order to ensure our survival into the far future.

So all in all, it would probably be bad news if we were to ever find life on Mars, Europa, Titan, etc. Here’s to hoping that all planets we come across are a barren wasteland!

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From Blink-182 to Alien Hunting

Posted on May 1, 2018 by evanjmiranda

Ex-Blink-182 member Tom DeLonge quit the band back in 2015 to get serious about his search for extraterrestrial life. While this may sound ridiculous, this dude is actually supported by more than just his mom. He started a new institution called the “To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science” and works alongside former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Chris Mellon, former Department of Defense and CIA scientific researcher Dr. Hal Puthoff and former CIA agent Jim Semivan. According to Tom, “people think I want to just put out a novel and make a movie. I have 10 people that I’m working with that are at the highest levels of the Department of Defense and NASA and the military. Big shit, and no one knows this. I’m doing all this stuff already.” Also, apparently the aliens are already here.

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Tom DeLonge believes aliens exist
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Unusual Extremophiles

Posted on May 1, 2018 by evanjmiranda

We’ve discussed the various types of extremophiles and brainstormed some potential habitats for these microbes, but there are some examples that I think are worth hearing. Snottites are these cave-dwelling microbes that ingest volcanic sulfur and excrete acidic compounds. Their name comes from the fact that colonies of snottites actually appear slimy and almost snot-like.

The Iron Mountain Mine in California is teeming with extremophiles that love the sulfides, arsenic and other compounds produced from consistent mining. The microbial community creates this biofilm that floats on acid streams. Similar types of extremophiles can be found at the Chernobyl site, or other areas where large amounts of chemicals, metals, etc. exist.

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Biofilm containing microbes near Iron Mountain Mine, CA
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Not-So-Astronomical Budgets

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Nathan Xiao

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Getting things to space is no small feat. It requires a lot of manpower, intelligence, time, and, unfortunately, money. Space exploration, travel, and research are certainly worthy pursuits – I don’t think many people are opposed to what NASA does. But their projects seem to cost a lot of money, and is sometimes hard to get. So how does NASA afford to stay afloat? Do they? And is it worth it to fund them?

The U.S. government funds NASA using federal revenue from income, corporate, and other taxes. The Trump administration plans to increase funding by encouraging public-private partnerships. The budget provides incentives for businesses to partner with the government on space station operations, deep-space exploration, and small satellite groups. Companies like SpaceX, Orbital ATK, and Sierra Nevada are now involved with the international space station, and are making many strides of their own once filled exclusively by NASA.

A final fiscal year 2018 spending bill released by House and Senate appropriators March 21 would give NASA more than $20.7 billion, far above the administration’s original request. The budget also provides $100 million for NASA’s education program. NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), another mission slated for cancellation in the 2019 budget request, received $150 million in the 2018 omnibus bill. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope receives $533.7 million. The agency’s planetary science program received more than $2.2 billion in the bill. The report also provides $23 million for a proposed helicopter NASA is considering including on the Mars 2020 rover mission.

For all this money spent on NASA, is it worth it? The answer, fortunately, is yes.

A report by the Space Foundation estimated that activities related to space contributed $180 billion to the economy in 2005. More than 60 percent of this came from commercial goods and services created by companies related to space technology. The space economy includes commercial space products and services. That means that each dollar of NASA spending is a catalyst for $10 of economic benefit.

In comparison to other areas of government spending, NASA’s budget is not so big. For all it does, NASA receives just 0.4 percent of the $4.407 trillion FY 2019 federal budget. Compare that to the Department of Defense. Its budget is $597 billion, or 13 percent of the total. DoD’s budget would pay for 30 NASA departments.

I am no accountant, but that seems like a worthy return to me. Despite the conservative politics and anti-science rhetoric in Washington today, NASA seems well equipped to survive for the foreseeable future.

Sources: Spacenews, TheBalance

 

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The Fate of Our Solar System

Posted on May 1, 2018 by interplanetira

With this being the final blog of the semester, I thought it would be fitting to write about the eventual fate of our Solar System – In approximately 5 billion years, as our Sun’s lifetime on the Main Sequence comes to end, the Sun (through the process of converting  gravitational potential energy to thermal energy) will become hotter and larger as it begins to fuse Helium into elements like Oxygen and Carbon. This star, now classified as a red giant, will be hundreds of times larger than its current size and will swallow Mercury and Venus in its process of expanding. While it is uncertain what will happen to Earth, there are two current guesses. First, the Sun could swallow Earth and all of its inhabitants or second, Earth’s orbit could be pushed further out in orbit, still leaving it sweltering hot and dry. In either case, Earth will be uninhabitable for humans and most other inhabitants of Earth.

As for the outer planets of our Solar System, they could see an entirely different fate. In being so far from the Sun now, they will not be consumed in the initial expansion of the Sun but they will be able to experience its affects. With the Sun being larger and hotter, some planets and moons that have long been frozen, such as Europa, could thaw out and possibly even harbor life for that period. Other planets, with the Sun’s varying mass, could have their orbits thrown off, leading to collisions with other planets and moons and occasionally being flung out of the Solar System altogether.

This period will last for approximately 10 million years before the Sun becomes a bright and beautiful planetary nebula, leaving a dense white dwarf in our Sun’s place.

Most of this is purely speculation, as there are multiple possibilities for the fate of the planets; but in either case, we have a bit of time before we have to start worrying about the end of our Solar System (5 billion years!).

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Source: Thus Spoke Jon

 

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50 Ways to Make a (Golden) Record

Posted on May 1, 2018 by Nathan Xiao

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I’ve always found the Golden Record very interesting. It represents a special moment in humanity’s history, when we decided what particular parts of our existence on Earth we wanted to show to any other possible life forms in the universe. What, then, did we decide to put on it? How did we reach those decisions? And who made them?

Astronomer Carl Sagan spearheaded the creation and contents of the Golden Record. Ann Druyan began gathering material for a sonic description of Earth’s history. Linda Salzman Sagan, Carl’s wife at the time, recorded samples of human voices speaking in many different languages. The space artist Jon Lomberg rounded up photographs and found a method to encode them into the record’s grooves.

Although the Beatles did not make their way onto the record musically, one of their members did contribute. Lennon recommended that we use his engineer, Jimmy Iovine, who is now very famous in his own right. Second, Lennon had a trick of etching little messages into the blank spaces between the takeout grooves that was replicated on the Voyager record: ““To the makers of music—all worlds, all times.”

The makers of the record made sure to include music from all around the world, representing cultures including Australia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Congo, Japan, the Navajo Nation, Peru, and the Solomon Islands.

In selecting Western classical music, they chose three compositions by Bach and two by Beethoven. Their reasoning was that extraterrestrial life could learn from the music by applying mathematical reasoning. Beethoven and Bach’s music are masterful examples of the usage of symmetries, repetitions, and self-similarities.

An interesting anecdote I found was that Carl Sagan was initially opposed to including Chuck Berry’s famous “Johnny B. Goode,” a hallmark song in the history of rock and roll. But Carl came around on that one, reminding a colleague who derided Berry’s music as “adolescent,” that Earth is home to many adolescents.

The Voyager Golden Record is a heartwarming thing to me: it was a virtuous attempt to truly represent all the sounds of Earth in all its glory. Despite all the controversy, I think Sagan and company did a heck of a job.

Source: New Yorker

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