1. A Shorter Astrobiology Review
Life in the Universe
Honors
with Prof. Geller

2. What I’ll talk about A Universe of Life
The Science of Life in the Universe
The Nature of Life
The Geological History of the Earth
The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth
Searching for Life in the Solar System
Mars
Life on Jovian Moons
The Nature and Evolution of Habitability
The Search for Habitable Worlds
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Interstellar Travel
The Fermi Paradox
Contact – Implications of the Search and Discovery
The Final Examination

3. A Universe of Life Searching for life everywhere
Planets, stars, galaxies, Big Bang
Conception of size and distance
Stars and the origins of chemicals
Formation of planets
Defining astrobiology – the science

4. The Science of Life in the Universe
Ancient cosmologies
Science as a way of knowing
Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton
Pseudoscience and nonsense

5. The Nature of Life
What is it?
Cells
Metabolism
DNA
Extremophiles

6. The Geological History of the Earth
Geologic Timescale
Plate Tectonics
Solid Earth
Greenhouse Effect
Relative/Absolute Dating

7. The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth
Origin of Life
Prokaryotes
Eukaryotes
Oxygen in Air
Impacts & Extinctions
Human Evolution

8. Searching for Life in the Solar System
Environmental Needs
In the Solar System

9. Mars
Science Fiction
Search for Life
Martian Meteorites
Exploration

10. Life on Jovian Moons
Europa
Titan
Others

11. The Nature and Evolution of Habitability
Habitability Zone
Past, Present, Future

12. The Search for Habitable Worlds
Planet Formation
Extrasolar Planets
Detection
Earth-like Planets?

13. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
SETI
Drake Equation

14. Interstellar Travel How realistic? Relativity and time dilation
Engineering
Limited by c
Relativity and time dilation
Wormholes and hyperspace?

15. The Fermi Paradox Where are the aliens? Galactic colonization
Resolving the paradox

16. Contact – Implications of the Search and Discovery
Can we make contact
Which kind 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Contact implications

17. The Final Examination When Where How Why
Thursday 12 May :30 PM – 4:15 PM
Where
Robinson A249
How
100 Multiple Choice questions
Includes definitions, feasible/unfeasible scenarios, data analysis and graphical interpretation
Why
To help compute your final grade

18. Astrobiology in One Sentence
The universe is unimaginably large and alive, and you are not at it's center; and the way to know the universe is through science
Dr. Harold Geller, Spring 2005
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER