Essay Topics

University of Minnesota

Department of Astronomy

Essay #3 (due Nov. 24th): Extreme Life

Where should we look for life in our solar system outside of the earth? One of the fundamental questions of Astronomy is whether life in any form exists or ever existed elsewhere in the universe. There are a few places within our own solar system where we could possibly search for life. Knowing whether or not life existed in places in our solar system other than could help us determine how common life is in the universe. Your job is to propose a mission to find life in our solar system outside of the Earth.
In order to be persuasive, you will need to include the following information.

1. What ingredients are necessary to maintain life (and remember this is life in general, not what it takes for us humans to survive)?

2. Where in the solar system outside of the Earth do we find all of these ingredients? What are the environments like at these spots, and what places on Earth are the environmental conditions similar?

3. Explain what three of the following "extremophiles" are, where they live, and how they obtain these ingredients: - acidophiles
- alkaliphiles
- thermophiles
- psychrophiles
- halophiles
- endoliths
- lithoautotrophs


4. How did extremophiles develop on Earth? How might they develop on other objects in out solar system?

5. Where in the Solar System do you think would be the best place to send this mission? What do you think is the likelihood of finding life at this location, and why do you think finding life there is that likely?

Possible References:

Essay #2 (Due Nov. 5th): Energy sources

There are many existing and potential sources of electric energy. In this essay you will compare two of these: coal and solar power. While coal has been used extensively to generate electric power for many decades solar power is utilized considerably less. Even though coal is plentiful in the US it is a limited resource; solar energy, on the other hand, will last for billions of years. Discuss various issues relating to coal and solar energy generation and utilization:

(A) Availability and cost of coal and solar.
(B) What is clean coal compared to ordinary coal?
(C) Discuss the environmental advantages and disadvantages of coal.
(D) Discuss the environmental advantages and disadvantages of solar power.



Essay 1 (Due October 8th): Snowball Earth

Geologic evidence suggests that during the Neoproterozoic (about 600 million years ago) the Earth went through a state of complete glaciation: everything--the land and the oceans--were completely frozen. As you can imagine, it would be very difficult to melt such a "snowball", and indeed this Snowball Earth lasted for quite a while. Interestingly enough, the emergence and divergence of animal life immediately followed the snowball episode. In your essay, consider the following questions:

1) What are the possible factors that could have driven Earth into a snowball state? Could this happen again? Support your answer with reasoning.

2) What mechanisms are there for deglaciation? That is, how do we get out of a snowball?

3) How did Snowball Earth affect the development of life? How did organisms survive during this time?

Feel free to explore other related areas of this problem. You are also encouraged to think through these problems yourself and come up with your own well-reasoned ideas. This is by no means a closed question in science, and opinions in the scientific community are greatly varied and divided.

Remember that Snowball Earth is NOT the same thing as the "Ice Age". Things were cold and snowy then, but not nearly as much so as during Snowball Earth--these are separate, distinct events.


A Couple of Possible References: