World's 1st Free Course on "Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life"The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel: Sci, Space, TechFollow the Daily Galaxy
« Nearby Mars-Sized Exo-Planet Discovered Orbiting a Red Dwarf |Main| 1st Known Spiral Galaxy in Universe Discovered --Billions of Years Older than Expected »July 19, 2012 World's 1st Free Course on "Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life"
Edinburgh University’s upcoming free course, “Introduction to Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life” will open up an exciting new era in the study of extraterrestrial life. According to Jeff Haywood, vice principal of the University of Edinburgh, the number of students for the online course is potentially 100,000 or more. The course reflects the ever increasing global awareness of the possibility of extraterrestrial life and its societal implications.
Over two thousand years ago, the ancient Greeks wondered if other worlds were habitable. In the coming years this question will be experimentally tested. This course is an introduction to astrobiology. It explores the origin and evolution of life on the Earth and its potential to exist elsewhere. Astrobiology addresses compelling questions of wide interest such as: How did life originate on the Earth? Is this an inevitable process and is life common across the Universe? Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary science that bridges fields as diverse as astrophysics, biology, geosciences and chemistry.The coursewill explore what we know about life’s ability to live in extreme environments on the Earth, we will look at different hypotheses for how it originated. It will look at some of the missions to search for life in our own Solar System and on planets orbiting distant stars,and discuss some of the extreme environments on the Earth that help us understand the limits of life and how life has adapted to cope with extremes. The course willexplore the possibility of intelligent alien life and some of the implications of its detection, and provide a foundation in astrobiology and introduce students to concepts in a diversity of scientific fields.
The course will be taught by Charles Cockell, professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh (image below). He received his doctorate at the University of Oxford and was a National Research Council Associate at the NASA Ames Research Centre. He was a visiting scholar at Stanford University and the University of Arizona. Cockell is currently Director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology and his research interests focus on how microbes survive in extreme environments, including volcanic and impact crater environments.
Cockell is a Senior Editor of the journal, Astrobiology. His popular science books include ‘Impossible Extinction’ (Cambridge University Press), which explores the tenacity of microbes on the Earth, and ‘Space on Earth’ (Macmillan) which looks at the links between environmentalism and space exploration. He is Chair of the Earth and Space Foundation, a non-profit organisation he established in 1994. He was the first Chair of the Astrobiology Society of Britain.
Course Syllabus
Week 1: What is life and what are the definitions of life? What do we know about the origin of life and what are the current hypotheses for how it originated on the Earth?
Week 2: What was the environment of early Earth like when life first emerged and what do we know about life on the earliest Earth? How did life evolve to cope with survival in extreme environments? What have been the major evolutionary transitions of life on the Earth?
Week 3: What are the prospects for life on other planetary bodies in our Solar System and how do we go about searching for it? What conditions are required for a planet to be habitable?
Week 4: How do we search for Earth-like planets orbiting distant stars and how would we detect life on them?
Week 5: What are the possibilities for intelligent life elsewhere? How would be deal with contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence and what would be the impact on society? Who would represent Earth?
No background is required. Suggested Readings: Lunine, J. Astrobiology: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Addison Wesley'
The course will consist of ten lectures of one hour each. beginning 28 January 2013 (5 weeks long). Students will receive a certificate of completion signed by theinstructor.* Workload: 3-4 hours/week
The Daily Galaxy via https://www.coursera.org/course/astrobio
Image credit of Charles Cockell: With thanks to the Haughton Mars Project
Posted at 07:30 AM | Permalink
Comments
Coincidentally, I just finished the first part of a video series I'm putting together on the subject. Might be relevant-
http://youtu.be/1Y4IMWC4Dcs
This makes a ll kinds of sense dude.
www.Now-Anon.tk
The infamous Dr. J says that life will always surprise us in the most interesting ways,and the search for extraterrestrial life will teach us how little we really know. We expect that life will e either a mirror image of us or completely alien and insect like, but the free course that will be offered will, hopefully inspire many to enter into the new field of biology and make some awesome discoveries. Although, like all scientists, like the historical legends of Darwin and Cousteau, the only way that modern
Astrobiologist would make the grand discoveries would be out in the field where alien life will exist.
Its free, but is it open to people from any academic background? Say... social sciences or mathematics?
Posted by:Trantorian |July 20, 2012 at 05:01 AMI've taken an FREE college course Astro-biology Class at Sacramento City College win Professor Liam McDaid back in 2009 or 2010. Same exact course material, just no certificate. There is also no prerequisites for this class. Editor's Note: Why don't we think it's "the same exact course material."
Posted by:Hatever |July 20, 2012 at 08:58 AMThe course sounds something I would like but is the course an on-line course?
Posted by:Fred Higginbottom |July 20, 2012 at 02:57 PMthis is what it say on the above messages:
"the number of students for the online course is potentially 100,000 or more."
I guess it is an online course :) Im doubting that too myself. But hoping it is :D
I feel so stupid now :)
Posted by:Fred Higginbottom |July 21, 2012 at 09:26 AMFred, you are stupid. What classroom cou7ld hold 100,000 students?
Posted by:Pete |July 22, 2012 at 04:39 AMPost a comment
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