Exobiology - Life in the Universe

Contents

• Exobiology - Overview
• Introductions
• Research Centers
• Space Agencies
• University Research
• Some Special Public Media Coverage
• Pointers to Links and Other Resources
• Origin and Development of Life on Earth
• Search for Life in the Rest of Our Solar System
• Search for Life on Mars
• Outer Planets and Moons
• Evidence from Meteorites
• SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)
• Some Famous Messages Sent Out
• Some Biology References
• Course / Student Pages
• Humans in Space and Biology Research Applied to Space
• Some News Media Coverage

Overview

Introductions

• Life on Earth and Elsewhere
  Sol Station.Com.
• Life in the Universe
  From the origins of the universe to the origins of life. This website supported a student science program run throughout Europe in 2001.
• NASA Astrobiology Magazine
• BBC News | Sci/Nature
• BBC Science & Nature - Space - Life
• BBC - Final Frontier - Is anybody out there?
• Search for ET! ---Are Humans All Alone in the Universe
  The science of searching for life in our solar system, and a little beyond. For children. JST Virtual Science Center (Japan). In English and Japanese. Cool

Research Centers

Space Agencies

• NASA Homepage
• NASA Astrobiology Magazine
• Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA / Caltech
• NASA's Origins Program JPL
• NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California:
• Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center
• NASA Ames Exobiology Branch
• NASA Ames Center - Astrobiology
• NASA Astrobiology Institute
• Astrobiology Lecture Series 1999. NASA Quest Project.
• Life in the Universe - Proceedings of a conference held at NASA Ames Research Center, June 19-20, 1979
• NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas
• Astromaterials Curation at NASA Johnson Space Center
• European Space Agency
• ESA Space Science - Biology / Chemistry
• ESA Space Science article - The Search for Life October 2003.
• Also see Solar System Research and Manned Spaceflight Research below.

University Research

• NASA Specialized Center of Research & Training (NSCORT)/Exobiology UCSD
• NSCORT Research
UCLA Astrobiology Home Page
• Center for Studies of Origins of Life, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst.
• Origins of Life on WAMC's Environment Show
  Many short interviews with scientists.
• The Australian Centre for Astrobiology
• SETI centers are listed below.

Some Special Public Media Coverage

• Life Beyond Earth
  By Timothy Ferris. PBS Film website.
• Museum of Science in Boston Lectures
  Archived public lectures you can watch online. In particular for Life in the Universe, see the Wright Series of lectures. There are sets of several lectures, over several years.
• Wright Center for Science Education Home Page Tufts University.
  The same lectures as above are available here. Plus there is more material available.
• Wright Lecture Series
• Cosmic Evolution - From Big Bang to Humankind
• Cosmic Search Magazine
  A magazine about the search for intelligent life published during 1979-1982. The first 4 issues are online.

Pointers to Links and Other Resources

• Net Advance of Physics - Bioastronomy compiled at MIT.
• Exobiology of Comets and Meteorites- Annotated Bibliography
• Astrobiology - The Living Universe
• Marsbugs: The Astrobiology Index
  By David J. Thomas, Lyon College, Arkansas. Highlights astrobiology related science news, plus links.
• The Astrobiology Web
• Life in Extreme Environments
• NASA Goddard Library Subject Guides - Astrobiology

• Also see:
• Also see Course and Student Pages below.
• Also see links about The Solar System
• Also see Extra-Solar Planets
• Also see Cosmology
• Also see Carl Sagan
• Also see the Suggested Books Page.

Origin and Development of Life on Earth

• NOVA Origins PBS
  The origin of the Universe, Earth and life. The website offers background information and activities. September 28 and 29, 2004.
• UC Museum of Paleontology UC Berkeley
• Life on Earth
• From Primordial Soup to the Prebiotic Beach - An Interview with Stanley L. Miller
  Includes additional links.
• Primordial Recipe - Spark and Stir
  About Stanley Miller's experiment. NASA Astrobiology Magazine. Includes additional links.
• Obituary of Stanley Miller, 77; chemist was a pioneer in studying the origins of life L.A. Times.
• Intimate Strangers- Unseen Life on Earth
  PBS documantary series about bacteriology. The first episode is about tracing the earliest life on Earth. November 9, 1999.
• Stromatolites Niigata Science Museum, Japan.
• Hamelin Pool Stromatolites Australia.
• Grand Hikes - Stromatolites in the Hakatai Shale
  Grand Canyon National Park. Bob Keller.
• Algal Reefs @ Canadian Museum of Nature.
• Fossilized Algae from .8 – 1.6 billion years ago. Earth Science Picture of the Day
• The Dawn of Animal Life
  Miller Museum Online Exhibit, Queens Univ. Geology, Canada. Traces from the Earth's beginning to the oldest animal fossils.
• Richard Cowen UC Davis Deptartment of Geology:
• Updates- references- and Web links for History of Life
  Website reference for Geology 3 coursebook at UC Davis Dept. of Geology. Includes an extensive set of links with informed discussion. The subpages address many topics, including astronomy related issues.
• Origins of Life NPR Science Friday May 14, 1999.
• Book: Cradle of Life -- The Discovery of Earth's Earliest Fossils by J. William Schopf.
  © 1999. Princeton University Press.
• See the two books by Peter Ward and Don Brownlee (Univ. of Washington) and my reviews.
• Ends of the World: Astrobiology and Armageddon
  An online video talk by the authors on July 8, 2002.
• See more books on the Suggested Books Page, in the Planetary Science and Related Sciences sections.
• Also see Some Biology References below.
• Cross link to Earth in the Solar System section.
• Cross link to Geology in the Related Sciences section.
• Cross link to Atmospheric Science in the Related Sciences section.
  See links about Earth's life and its realtionship with the atmosphere.

Search for Life in Our Solar System

• Search for ET! ---Are Humans All Alone in the Universe
  The science of searching for life in our solar system, and a little beyond. For children. JST Virtual Science Center (Japan). In English and Japanese.
• BBC Science & Nature - Space - Life
  Includes sections on the Solar System. Particular focus on Mars and outer planet moons.
• NASA Solar System Exploration JPL
• Astromaterials Curation at NASA Johnson Space Center
• The Planetary Society
• Cross link to The Solar System section.

Search for Life on Mars

• Mars
  NASA NSSDC planetary science reference. Extensive reference to all Mars space exploration, Mars physical data, online NASA references and historical works (unlike many other NASA Mars reference pages).
• Life on Mars?
  Evidence of Ancient Martian Life in Meteorite ALH84001?
• NASA Astrobiology Mars Magazine
• Mars Spacecraft Exploration
• Mars NASA NSSDC
• Mars Exploration Homepage JPL.
• Center for Mars Exploration NASA Ames Research Center
• An Exobiology Strategy for Mars Exploration NASA HQ report, January 1995
  Includes background material on geology and biology.
• Beagle 2 spacecraft - Life on Mars
  British mission that was lost.
• Great Images in NASA - Mars
  From Mariner 2, Viking, to recent missions.
• Viking Lander Missions 1976
• Astronomy 121 - Planets Davison E. Soper, Univ. of Oregon
• A quick look at how the Viking landers looked for Life on Mars in 1976.
• NASA Viking Mission to Mars Homepage
• On Mars - Exploration of the Red Planet 1958-1978 - NASA SP-4212
  Book available online. Includes significant discussion of the search-for-life experiments on the Viking missions.
• Caltech Archives Oral Histories Online - Interview with Norman H. Horowitz
  In 1965 Dr. Horowitz became chief of JPL's Bioscience section. He developed one of the biology experiments (the pyrolytic release experiment) on board the Viking Mars landers. He describes his JPL experience in the second part of the interview. PDF file.
• Gerald Soffen, Chief Scientist for Mars Missions, Dies at 74
  New York Times obituary, November 27, 2000.
• Mars Meteorites on Earth
• Life on Mars?
  Evidence of Ancient Martian Life in Meteorite ALH84001? NASA NSSDC.
• Astromaterials Curation at NASA Johnson Space Center
• Mars Meteorites
• Matian Meteorite: Life on Mars? Clues From a Special Martian Meteorite
  By Christopher S. Romanek, Earth in Space, Vol.9 #5, January 1997, American Geophysical Union.
• Also see Mars Science Coverage, the next section below.
• Science Coverage
• NASA Planetary Science Research Discoveries
  There is a dedicated section of articles on the search for Martian life. Some of those articles are about the Martian meteorites. Other articles present a broader planetary science background. Written especially for students. University of Hawaii.
• Mars Life Article Archive
• See Richard Cowen UC Davis Deptartment of Geology:
• Updates- references- and Web links for History of Life
  Has links and some discussion of the Mars science results as they unfold.
• Pre-Global Surveyor Evidence for Martian Ground Water by Thomas M. Donahue
  Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., Vol. 98, Issue 3, p. 827-830, January 30, 2001.
• The Origin of Early Planetary Atmospheres and the Likelihood of Life on Mars by Joelle Berle and Kevin Saman.
• Media and Education Coverage
• Was There Ever Life on Mars?
  A science educational website by Bill Robertson, Los Alamos National Laboratory. Highlights many topics.
• Mars Quest Online
  Educational website sponsored in part by JPL.
• MarsNews.com - NewsWire for the New Frontier The Mars Society
• PBS NOVA | Life On Mars January 2005.
• PBS NOVA Online | Mars Dead or Alive January 4, 2004.
• BBC - Horizon - Life On Mars March 2003, based on an earlier program in 2001.
• BBC Science & Nature - Space - Is there life on Mars?
• BBC News in Depth - Race for Mars
  News coverage.
• Quantum - Water on Mars?
  Austrailia ABC television. 12 April 2001.
• Hunting for little green microbes from Mars Ruth Schubert, Seattel Post Int., Aug 6, 2001.
• PBS Online NewsHour Life on Mars -- August 7, 1996 transcript of interviews.
• New York Times Solar System Reference - Mars
  Articles and links, updated just through 2001. Includes articles about searching for Mars life.
• Also see:
• Also see Planet Mars, which includes links about 19th century ideas of canals on mars.
• Also see Meteors, Meteorites & Impacts.

Outer Planets and Moons

• See BBC Science & Nature - Space - Life
• Cassini-Huygens Probe to Saturn (JPL)
• Life on Titan? ESA Cassini-Huygens.
• Titan and the Origin of Life on Earth ESA Bulletin.
• Galileo gets a close-up view of mysterious Europa NASA news item, October 1998.

Evidence from Meteorites

• Astromaterials Curation at NASA Johnson Space Center
• NASA Planetary Science Research Discoveries - Meteorite Archives
  Articles especially for students. Univ. of Hawaii with NASA support.
• Also see Mars above for Martian meteorite links.
• Also see Meteors, Meteorites & Impacts.

SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

• SETI Institute
• Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at the University of California Berkeley
• Project SERENDIP - SETI at the University of California Berkeley
• SETI @home: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence at Home
  Run BOINC software on your home computer as a screen saver and help search for SETI radio signals. The software can run other science projects as well.
• Harvard SETI Home Page
• SETI at Jodrell Bank
• SETI Australia
• ASRG and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  University of Kentucky.
• Big Ear Radio Observatory - The ABCs of SETI

• The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  By Sally Stephens, @ Astronomical Society of the Pacific Universe in the Classroom.
• Planetary Society SETI Page
• Curious About Astronomy? The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence and Life
  Ask a Cornell Astronomer Website.
• Cosmic Search Magazine
  A magazine about the search for intelligent life published during 1979-1982. The first 4 issues are online.
• Interview with Seth Shostak about SETI AnnOnline.
• Pulse of the Planet -- SETI
• Sky and Telescope - SETI, Searching for Life
• The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  NASA historical publication from 1977, SP-419.
• Looking for Life in the Universe, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by Ellen Jackson. With photographs by Nick Bishop. © 2002. Hougton Mifflin. Intermediate children's book. Especially follows the work of Jill Tarter.

Some Famous Messages Sent Out

• Astronomy Picture of the Day - 2000 January 23 - A Message From Earth
  The SETI message broadcast from Aricebo towards the the globular cluster M13 in 1974.
• Astronomy Picture of the Day - 2002 August 31 - The Voyagers' Message in a Bottle
  The record disks on Voyagers 1 and 2.
• Voyager Spacecraft - Golden Record
• Pinoeer Odyssey - Interstellar Cave Painting
  About the message plaque for extra-terrestrial civilizations on the Pioneer 10 spacecraft.

Some Biology References

• Richard Cowen UC Davis Deptartment of Geology:
• Updates- references- and Web links for History of Life
  Website reference for Geology 3 coursebook at UC Davis Dept. of Geology. Includes an extensive set of links with informed discussion. The subpages address many topics, including astronomy related issues.
• The Biology Project a basic biology reference
• The ESG Biology Hypertextbook @ MIT
• BioTech's Life Science Dictionary
• DLC-ME | The Microbe Zoo
  A cool site for children at Michigan State University. Includes a section about microbes and space exploration.
• Microscopy-UK (U.S. mirror).
• The Dawn of Animal Life
  Miller Museum Online Exhibit, Queens Univ. Geology, Canada.
• The Alfred Russel Wallace Page
  By Charles Smith, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green. Thank you for writing me.
  Alfred Russel Wallace was a naturalist and younger contemporary of Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of natural selection at about the same time as Darwin.
• Is Mars Habitable? (1907) A Critical Examination of Professor Lowell's Book "Mars and Its Canals," With an Alternative Explanation by Alfred Russel Wallace
• Man's Place in the Universe, by Alfred Russel Wallace, A Study of the Results of Scientific Research in Relation to the Unity or Plurality of Worlds (1903)
• Access Excellence.org
  A Biology educational reference website.
• The Vega Science Trust
  Video programs available online from scientists and engineers, communicating directly to the public about issues that excite them. Some programs were broadcast on the BBC. Has a number of programs on chemistry and life sciences, including some directly relevant to astrobiology.
• Microbes.info - The Microbiology Information Portal Thanks for writing me.
• Yahoo - Science Biology Directory
• Also see Additional Science Resources: Geology for links about the history of life on Earth.
• Also see Additional Science Resources: Atmospheric Science for links about Earth's life and its realtionship with the atmosphere.

Course / Student Pages

• Does Life exist out there and can we detect it?
  Class project at Groningen Kapteyn Institute, in the Netherlands. (1997-8)
• The Development of Life on Earth and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
  Terry Boyce, Hong Kong University
• The Origin of Early Planetary Atmospheres and the Likelihood of Life on Mars by Joelle Berle and Kevin Saman.
• Life in the Universe @ Astro 162 Univ. of Tenn., Knoxville
• Astronomy 103
  J.C. Evans. George Mason University.
• Astronomy 103 Supplement - Exobiology
• Astro 201: The Universe and the Origin of Life University of Washington.

Some Special Reports

• The Search for Life in the Universe - An overview of the scientific and cultural implications of finding life in the cosmos
  By Neil deGrasse Tyson, AMNH. For the House Committee on Science, Sub-committee on Space and Aeronautics.11 July 2001.
• National Academies Space Studies Board Reports
• Evaluating the Biological Potential in Samples Returned from Planetary Satellites and Small Solar System Bodies
  1998.
• Federation of American Scientists, Space Policy Project:
• Searching for Life in the Solar System and Beyond
  Research Discussion Meeting, The Royal Society, London, UK - 31 October 1996.
• An Exobiology Strategy for Mars Exploration NASA HQ report, January 1995
  Includes background material on geology and biology.
• Life in the Universe - Proceedings of a conference held at NASA Ames Research Center, June 19-20, 1979
• Obituary of Carl Sagan (1934-1996) Cornell University.
• Carl Sagan as a founder of The Planetary Society
• Carl Sagan (1934-1996)
  Astronomy Picture of the Day 1996 December 26.

Humans in Space and Biology Research Applied to Space

• NASA Human Spaceflight Space Shuttle and Space Station
• NASA Human Spaceflight -- Space Food
• NASA Fundamental Space Biology
• NASA's Space Biology Outreach Program - Web of Life NASA KSC.
• Space Life Sciences Directorate, NASA JSC
• Neurolab mission website STS-90
• US Biomedical Space Research Timeline
• American Society for Gravitational and Space Biology
• Space Biology Net
• Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency JAXA
• Space Medicine
• Space Medicine on International Space Station
• Space Medicine In Project Mercury By Mae Mills Link. NASA SP-4003.
• Biomedical Results of Apollo NASA publication SP-368. 1975.
• LIVING ALOFT - Human Requirements for Extended Spaceflight NASA SP-483. 1985.

News Media Coverage

• NASA Astrobiology Magazine
• Marsbugs: The Astrobiology Index
  By David J. Thomas, Lyon College, Arkansas. Highlights astrobiology related science news, plus links.

• ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation
• Quantum - Water on Mars?
  Quantum TV series. April 12, 2001.
• Interview with Dr. David Morrison
  Quantum TV series. May 20, 1999.
• The BBC Online
• BBC News | Sci/Nature
• BBC - Final Frontier - Is anybody out there?
• BBC - Horizon TV Science Documentary Series
  Similar to PBS's NOVA in the U.S.
• BBC - Horizon - Life On Mars
  March 2003, based on an earlier program in 2001.
• BBC News in Depth - Race for Mars News coverage.
• BBC Space Homepage
• BBC Science & Nature - Space - Life
• CNN: Space 2000 & Beyond: Heavenly Life
• PBS
• NOVA Origins PBS
  The origin of the Universe, Earth and life. The website offers background information and activities. September 28 and 29, 2004.
• PBS NOVA | Life On Mars January 2005.
• PBS NOVA | Mars Dead or Alive January 4, 2004.
• Life's Realy Big Questions December 19, 2000. PBS Scientific American Frontiers.
• Life Beyond Earth
  By Timothy Ferris. PBS Film website.
• PBS Online NewsHour Life on Mars -- August 7, 1996
• National Public Radio
• Nat'l Public Radio Science Friday - Alien Life/SETI archive
• Pulse of the Planet
  Ongoing series of short radio progams.
• The Vega Science Trust
  Video programs available online from scientists and engineers, communicating directly to the public about issues that excite them. Some programs were broadcast on the BBC. Has a number of programs on chemistry and life sciences, including some directly relevant to astrobiology.

• Ad Astra Magazine Astrobiology - Expanded Edition January-February 1999.
• The Atlantic Monthly: Are We Alone? by Gregg Easterbrook, August 1988.
• Cosmic Search Magazine
  A magazine about the search for intelligent life published during 1979-1982. The first 4 issues are online.
• First Science.Com
• New Scientist - Special Report on Astrobiology
• Scientific American
• Sky & Telescope Magazine: SkyTonight.Com
• Sky and Telescope - SETI, Searching for Life

• NY Academy of Sciences Annals - v. 950 Cosmic Questions December 2001.
  A number of articles about searching fundamental questions about the Universe and the cultural context.
• Also see the Astronomy News Page.

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