Astrobiology
Last
update: May 13, 2008
Announcements:
Electronic copy of final due
to all professors on Wed, May 14. All ppts are posted at the website below.
1st writing assignment results: range
75-96%, average 84%.
Instructors:
Dr.
Tom Kieft (Biology), Dr.
Penelope Boston (E&ES) and Dr. Michelle
Creech-Eakman (Physics)
Course
Location and Meeting Time:
Spring 2008, 12:30-1:50 T/Th in
Cramer 101.
Office hours:
Boston: MSEC 336 X5657 --
Office Hours: TBD by appt.
Creech-Eakman: Workman 357
X5809 -- Office Hours: M1-2, W 4-5 or by appt.
Kieft:
Jones Annex 301 X5321 -- Office Hours: M&W 10-12. Feel
free to stop by his office at other times as well.
Books: Scientific
American series of articles on Solar System can be ordered
here and the primer
linked here.
Lectures: The
link to the lectures (password protected) is here.
Prerequisites:
Math 131 & 132; Chemistry 121
& 122; Physics 121 & 122 (or equivalent); and at least one more
course
(preferably several more) in the
major area -- We are teaching this at the 400/500 Level. There
are plenty
of reading and writing components to this course, as well as lots of
interactive group activities and we expect
you will be intrigued and challenged by the course material and will
end up enjoying it as much as we do.
We are looking for bright,
inquisitive students who want to participate actively in an
interdisciplinary experience. If you fit this description, please
come speak with one of
us about signing up for this course in the fall.
Assignments:
Click here for a word
copy of the syllabus (here for a pdf copy).
Book list (in word -- plus some extra short stories) is here.
RFP (in word) for graduate students is here.
Metabolism HW is here.
Rules
for attending evening Astrobiology Lectures for Extra Credit: Attend
the talk and write-up a 2-page summary which includes: your name,
speaker's name, topic/date of talk, brief summary of talk (all less
than about 1 page). Also,
answer the following 2 questions in your discussion of what you learned
from the talk: 1) What
was the most intriguing thing you learned in the talk related to our
class topic -- how does it expand your understanding of topics from
class? 2) What new question/idea would you bring back
to the Astrobiology class to discuss as a result of this talk?
(Each paper is worth up to 15 points. All papers are due about 2
weeks
after the talk is given.)
Reading
assignments/material and lists of current articles: (PDF
downloads when
feasible always added to bottom)
Biology:
"The
Limits of Organic Life in Planetary Systems" by National Research
Council (free PDF or read online)
"An
Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars" by National Research
Council (free PDF or read online)
"Experimental
Models of Primitive Cellular Compartments" by Hanczyc
"Life
in Extreme Environments" by Rothchild & Manzinelli
"Search
for Past Life on Mars" by McKay
"Prebiotic
Chemistry and the Origin of the RNA World" by Orgel
"Borate
Minerals Stabilize Ribose" by Ricardo
"Batteries
not Included" by Lane & Schubert
"Production
of Amino Acids..." by Miller
"Organic
Compound Synthesis on the Primitive Earth" by Miller & Urey
"First
Cell Membranes" by Deamer et al., Astrobiology, Vol 2, No 4, 2002
"Carbonaceous
meteorites as a Source for ...." by Cooper et al., Letter to Nature,
2001
"Oxygen
isotope evidence from ancient zircons..." by Mojzsis et al, Letter to
Nature, 2001.
"Composition
and Syngeneity of Molecular Fossils..." by Brocks et al., GCA, Vol 67,
2003.
"A Molecular
View of Microbial Diversity and the Biosphere" by Pace, Science, Vol
276, 1997.
"A
Whiff of Oxygen Before the Great Oxidation Event?" by Anbar et al.,
Science, Vol 317, 2007.
"Microbially
influenced formation of 2,724-MY old Stromatolites" by Lepot et al.,
Nature, 2008.
"Molecular
Structure of Nucleic Acids" by Watson and Crick, Nature, No 43.56, 1953.
"Evidence
for life on Earth before 3,800 million years ago" by Mojzsis et al.,
Nature, Vol 384, 1996.
"The
last eukaryotic common ancestor...." by Margulis et al., PNAS, 103, 35,
2006.
"Ubiquity
of Biological Ice Nucelators in Snowfall" by Christner et al.,
Science, March, 2008.
"Analysis
of Evidence of Mars Life" by Levin, Carnegie Institute, May 2007.
"Limitations
on Organic Detection in Mars-like Soils...." by Navarro-Gonzales et
al., PNAS, 103, 44, 2006.
"On the
Ability of the Viking gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer...." by
Biemann, PNAS, 104, 25, 2007.
"Water
paper...." by XXX,
Astronomy/Geology:
"Astrobiology"
by Chbya & Hand
"Evolution
of a Habitable Planet" by Kasting & Catling
"The Formation of Sun-like Stars" by Lada and Shu, Science, May 1990,
vol 248 (in library)
"Extrasolar
Planets: Constraints for Planetary Formation Models", by Santos, Benz
& Mayor, Science, Oct 2005, vol 310.
"Geochemistry:
How Old is Planet Earth?", by Jacobsen, Science, June 2003, vol. 300.
"Beyond
the Principle of Plentitude..." by Gaidos et al., Astrobiology, Vol 5,
No 2, 2005.
"Impact
Seeding and Reseeding in the Inner Solar System", by Gladman et al.,
Astrobiology, Vol 5, No 4, 2005
"Bombardment
of the Halean Earth...", by Ryder, Astrobiology, Vol 3, No1, 2003.
"HAT-P-1b: A
Large-radius, low-density exoplanet trasiting one member of a stellar
binary", by Bakos et al., submitted.
"Molybdenum
Isotope Evidence...", by Arnold, Anbar, et al., Science, Vol 304, 2004.
"Proterozoic Ocean Chemistry..." by Anbar and Knoll, Science, Vol 297,
Aug 2002, Science (in library).
"Infrared
Radiation from an Extrasolar Planet", by Deming et al., Nature, Vol
434, Feb 2005.
"Methane
Present in an Extrasolar Planet", by Swain et al., Nature, March, 2008.
Terraforming
Papers:
"How
Might Mars Become a Home for Humans?" Haynes (essay), 1993.
"Terraforming
Mars: A Review of Research" Fogg.
"Ethical
Considerations for Terraforming Mars" Pinson, 2002.
"Terraforming
Mars via ISRU", Rice, Gustafson & McKay, 2001, AIAA document.
"Should we Implant Life on Mars?", McKay and Haynes, Scientific
American, 263, 144, 1990 (library or buy online).
Scientific
American Articles:
http://www.sciam.com/
National Geographic Articles:
(paper copies in the library)
"Mars, Is there life in the Ancient Ice" -- January, 2004
"Sun Bursts: Hot News from our Stormy Star" -- July, 2004
"Searching the Stars for New Earths" -- December, 2004
Time Magazine Articles: (
recent/paper
copies in library)
"Let there be light" -- Aug 27, 2006
"Cosmic
Conundrum: Existence of Life in the Universe" -- Nov. 29, 2004
"The
End: How the Universe will Expire" -- Jun 25, 2001
Others:
Air
and Space Magazine: "Stronger than Dirt" (Mars dust) -- Sept, 2006
Space.com:
Newfound Object Further Blurs Planet Definition -- Sept 07, 2006
Book
review of "Many Worlds in One" (physics oriented discussion of the
universe and life) -- Nature, Sept 2006.
Useful
Links:
NASA Ames Research Center Astrobiology
Division
Astrobiology
Magazine
NASA Quest - Astrobiology
SETI
Institute
Australian
Centre for Astrobiology
Life and Planets Astrobiology Center --
University of Arizona
Astrobiology
Research Center - Penn State
IGPP Center for Astrobiology - UCLA
NYC Astrobiology - Columbia Univ.
Astrobiology Primer at
website: http://www.liebertonline.com/toc/ast/6/5
Reading and
homework assignments (details by date -- please see an instructor
immediately if you are going to miss a class):
Jan 22: Syllabus. Introduction.
Drake equation.
Jan 24: Getting acquainted exercises. Big Bang
nucleosynthesis.
Jan 29: Early universe.
Jan 31: Star Formation and evolution.
Feb 5: Planet formation, T-Tauri phase, late heavy bombardment. HW #1 handed out.
Feb 7: Habitable zones, solar system planets. Read SciAm articles on Venus and Mars
by the 14th.
Feb 12: Early life. Abstract
for
SciFi assignment due.
Feb 14: Pro and eukaryotes. HW #1 on Stars
Due.
Feb 19: Early evolution. Tree of life.
Feb 21: GUEST Speaker:
Lynn Margulis - UMass Amherst. Evening Lecture at 7:30, Workman
101 - more below.
Feb 26: Team building. Allegro non troppo.
Feb 28: GUEST Speaker: Peter
Hofner (NMT)- Interstellar (organic) molecules.
Mar 4: Planets - Venus and Mars.
Mar 6: Outer icy moons. Take-home
writing
exercise #1 due.
Mar 10-14: Spring Break - no
classes
Mar 18: More icy moons. SciFi
analysis paper
due (Thursday at latest).
Mar 20: Metabolism, Life on Mars, McKay paper discussion as class.
Mar 25: Metabolism - redox reactions. Read article on What Bacteria Can't Do.
HW #2 handed out.
Mar 27: Extremophiles. Read
Manzinelli article on Extremophiles.
Apr 1: Finish up life stuff - extremophiles & alternative
chemistries, start planets.
Apr 3: Planet detection methods.
Apr 8: GUEST Speaker: Mark
Swain (JPL) Read Swain and
Deming articles above.
Apr 9: Evening Lecture at
7:30...place TBD.
Apr 10: Planet searching follow-up. HW #2 on Redox
reactions Due.
Apr 15: Planetary protection. Take-home
writing
exercise #2 likely going out.
Apr 17: Propulsion systems and size
scales.
Apr 22: Alternative chemistries. RFP
due.
Apr 24: Communication methods. Start terraforming.
Apr 29: Terraforming.
May 1: Evolution of intelligence/forms of intelligence.
May 6: Wrap-up and discuss Drake eqn again.
May 8: Group presentations.
May 12-16: Finals week. Capstone write ups and final are due.
Abstracts of public talks:
We will be having several
public
talks associated with the class throughout the semester and will list
the abstracts here as we are able to confirm the speakers.
Lynn
Margulis: Thursday, Feb 21 at 7:30 -- Location Workman
101. TITLE:
"'GAIA'
natural selection and SYMBIOGENESIS 'evolution'"
Press
Release at NMT about her visit.
Mark
Swain: Wednesday, April 9 at 7:30 -- Location Workman
101. TITLE:
"Spitzer and Hubble Spectra of
Extrasolar planets: First detection of Methane"