Lake Vostok: Life in one of the most Inhospitable Places on Earth:

Located on the seemingly inhospitable continent of Antarctica (a place with the lowest recorded temperature on the Earth at -89 degrees Celsius), lies a subglacial lake that is 160 miles wide and 30 miles across. This lake has been dubbed Lake Vostok. It is believed that the lake formed some 20 million years ago. Isolated from the rest of the world for at LEAST 100 000 years, Lake Vostok was one of the last untouched places on this globe.

The lake presents itself as an analog for the study of both extremophilic microbial life (and possibly larger organisms) and evolutionary isolation. This inhospitable environment parallels some environments that we think might exist elsewhere in the solar system – either in the subsurface of Mars or on icy moons like Enceladus or even Europa. Ultimately, the search for life on other planets could start here on Earth at Lake Vostok.

Find out how here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/lake-vostok-life-in-one-of-the-most-inhospitable-places-on-earth/

Image Credit: Nicolle Rager-Fuller / NSF

Crows Could be the Key to Helping Humanity Understand Alien Intelligence

Yes, you read that right, understanding how a crow"s brain works could lay the foundation to helping us understand how an alien mind might work. In case you don"t know, crows are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth. They use tools and pass this knowledge onto their children, they will unite to fight a common enemy or intruder, and their ability to remember is almost unmatched. Recently, a study was conducted to see just how reasoning inside the bird"s brain works, because a avialan brain is very different from a mammalian brain. Here, the rabbit hole goes deeper than we could have possibly imagined.

Learn more about how crows are helping us understand aliens here: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/crows-could-be-the-key-to-helping-humanity-understand-alien-intelligence/

Searching for Life Beyond Earth: Could Life Exist on Enceladus?

In order to ask a question such as this, and ultimately answer it, one needs to first understand what life is, and then analyze the degree to which a celestial body is capable of sustaining this life. And what are the requirements for life as we know it? In the most basic sense: water, an atmosphere, and a source of energy. The interesting bit here is that Enceladus only fits into two of these categories (it has water and an atmosphere). However, this does not necessarily mean that life cannot survive. After all, the lifeforms that exist in the deepest parts of our ocean are a prime example of living beings thriving in unexpected places. And it seems that similar oceans flow under the icy covering of Enceladus.

Enceladus is one of Saturn’s small moons (it’s about the size of Wyoming). Interestingly, it is also one of the brightest objects in our Solar System. This is a world that has a temperature of -201 degrees Celsius (-329 Fahrenheit). Meaning, the moon is completely frozen over. Could life exist on this frozen moon? Apparently, the answer is yes (of course, scientists don’t expect this life to be a species of gigantic super aliens that want to enslave humanity…just bacteria).

Just how likely is life on this distant world? Find out at: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/searching-for-life-beyond-earth-could-life-exist-on-enceladus/

Image source: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060608.html

The Oceans of Jupiter

Most of you probably know that Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system (and if you didn’t, now you do). Its size is simply staggering: Jupiter’s volume is large enough to contain 1,300 Earth-sized planets; it contains 70% of the solar system’s planetary material; and it is so large that it has over 60 moons (67 confirmed so far). This is the king of the planets. So saying that this beast has little in common with planet Earth is rather obvious. But today, I wanted to talk about one commonality between Jupiter and the Earth: oceans.

For starters, this planet is a gas giant that is composed primarily of swirling clouds of hydrogen and helium (90% of the planet is hydrogen and the other 10% is almost entirely helium). Since it is a gas giant, you might suppose that the planet couldn’t possibly have liquid oceans, but you would be wrong. Typically, when we think of oceans, we think of surfers and sail boats, we picture crystal clear waters with softly crashing waves, and imagine coral reefs teeming with strange and exotic life.

But there are many kinds of oceans.

To read the full article, see: http://www.fromquarkstoquasars.com/the-oceans-of-jupiter/