Tag Archives: astrobiology

Astrobiology

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Catherine Sack

Astrobiology is defined as the study of life in the universe. This includes the universe’s origin, future, and evolution. It includes techniques ranged from astronomy, geology, chemistry, and biology. Studies include not just within Earth, but outside on other planets as well. One of its main focuses is life outside of Earth. This field of […] Continue reading →

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Beyond The Solar System (ASTR 2110)

Posted on December 8, 2024 by Matthew Marcus

One thing that surprised me from this course was learning how gravity rounds out and differentiates the interior layers of planets. I suppose I had never really considered how the planets in our solar system formed, and I must have assumed that denser material simply gathered first and less dense material collected on top of […] Continue reading →

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Tardigrades and extraterrestrial life

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Michael

I first saw a picture of a tardigrade when I was a child, and even then, I was fascinated. I prefer the more affectionate term “water bear”, and these cute little “micro-animals” are a classic example of just how resilient life can be. As we briefly discussed in class, tardigrades have survived exposure to outer […] Continue reading →

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Blog 1: Cosmic Calendar and Biology

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Michael

When we learned about the cosmic calendar in this class, I was immediately reminded of something I had learned two years ago in BSCI 1511 here at Vanderbilt, which was the biological timescale clock. I remember seeing this diagram and being really surprised by how recent humans, or even multicellular organisms, are in the history […] Continue reading →

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Strain 121: Surviving Beyond Boiling

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Garrett

Image of Strain 121 For my blog post I wanted to learn more about extremophiles. One extremophile I found particularly interesting was Strain 121. This single-celled organism is considered a hyperthermophile. Strain 121 can survive and reproduce at temperatures as high as 121 degrees Celsius (250 degrees Fahrenheit), which is where it gets its name. […] Continue reading →

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Potential for Life on Europa

Posted on April 28, 2024 by katie shapiro

“Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”-Arthur C. Clarke In order for their to be the possibility of life, there needs to be liquid water. That is why life is so successful here on Earth; we have an abundance of liquid water in the […] Continue reading →

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Blog 7: The Fermi Paradox

Posted on April 27, 2024 by matthewastro

Many scientists have theorized that we are not alone in the universe. Indeed, there are many scenarios that should lend themselves to the existence of life. The conditions inherent in theoretical models that have been developed to explain Earth’s formation and subsequent development of life exist elsewhere. Not only do they exist, but they appear […] Continue reading →

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NASA’s Astrobiology Program

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Angela Harris

Astrobiologists at NASA use data from many NASA missions to study the possibility of life on other worlds. Here are a few ways they use data from other missions to support the NASA Astrobiology Program:  Chandra X-ray Observatory   The Chandra X-ray Observatory is a telescope that detects emission from extremely hot regions of space (exploded […] Continue reading →

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Life on Mars?

Posted on April 22, 2024 by liamoneill95

Does life/did life once exist in areas of the solar system outside of our home planet Earth? In trying to answer this question, we turn to our closest neighbor and most likely candidate, Mars. As of right now, there is no evidence, past or present, that Mars has ever been home to life. That being […] Continue reading →

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Godzilla the Extremophile

Posted on April 30, 2023 by sadiekarr

(Diagram of the various conditions in which different types of extremophiles live) Extremophiles are organisms that live in, you guessed it, “extreme” environments, like volcanoes, the bottom of the ocean, acidic areas, etc. When we talked about extremophiles in class, we mostly looked at microbes and bacteria- the little guys. But I want to talk […] Continue reading →

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