A Planetary Perspective of Life

Event Date:
2019-03-04T15:00:00
2019-03-04T16:00:00
Event Location:
Hennings 318
Speaker:
Michael Wong (U Washington)
Related Upcoming Events:
Intended Audience:
Undergraduate
Local Contact:

Douglas Scott

Event Information:

Where did we come from? Are we alone? Incredibly, the answers to these questions could soon be within the reach of scientific pursuits for the first time in human history. Depending on what's out there—and on our will to find it—we might be standing on the precipice of a golden age of astrobiology. But to truly appreciate our place in the Universe, we must integrate fields that have historically stood apart—physics and biology, geology and astronomy—into a planetary perspective of life. In this talk, we'll introduce the alkaline hydrothermal vent hypothesis for the emergence of life, a hypothesis in which life emerges from specific planetary disequilibria. Once we've formed life, we'll briefly examine how it has co-evolved with Earth, transforming our atmosphere over the eons, finally producing the present oxygen-rich beacon screaming, "I'm alive!" But the detection of exobiospheres requires that we understand atmospheric oxygen in a planetary context and the potential for oxygen false positives. Time permitting, we'll then hypothesize about other forms life on exotic worlds and discuss how a planetary perspective invites us to broaden our search for life.

Add to Calendar 2019-03-04T15:00:00 2019-03-04T16:00:00 A Planetary Perspective of Life Event Information: Where did we come from? Are we alone? Incredibly, the answers to these questions could soon be within the reach of scientific pursuits for the first time in human history. Depending on what's out there—and on our will to find it—we might be standing on the precipice of a golden age of astrobiology. But to truly appreciate our place in the Universe, we must integrate fields that have historically stood apart—physics and biology, geology and astronomy—into a planetary perspective of life. In this talk, we'll introduce the alkaline hydrothermal vent hypothesis for the emergence of life, a hypothesis in which life emerges from specific planetary disequilibria. Once we've formed life, we'll briefly examine how it has co-evolved with Earth, transforming our atmosphere over the eons, finally producing the present oxygen-rich beacon screaming, "I'm alive!" But the detection of exobiospheres requires that we understand atmospheric oxygen in a planetary context and the potential for oxygen false positives. Time permitting, we'll then hypothesize about other forms life on exotic worlds and discuss how a planetary perspective invites us to broaden our search for life. Event Location: Hennings 318