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The search for life in the Universe

3 September 2015

Search for life…

Each recent report of liquid water existing elsewhere in the solar system has reverberated through the international press and excited the imagination of humankind.  Why?  Because in the last few decades we have come to realize that where there is liquid water on Earth, virtually no matter what the physical conditions, there is life. 

What we previously thought of as insurmountable physical and chemical barriers to life, we now see as yet another niche harboring “extremophiles”.  This realization, coupled with new data on the prevalence of potential abodes for life in our solar system and beyond, the survival of microbes in the space environment, modeling of the potential for transfer of life between celestial bodies, and advances in synthetic biology suggests that life could be more common than previously thought. 

With these data mounting, are we truly “alone”?

Prof Lynn Rothschild, of the NASA Ames Research Center, UCSC and Brown University (USA) will talk about this fascinating topic in a free public talk on Thursday 3 September at 6pm in the Darwin Lecture Theatre at UCL.

The event is completely free and open to all, but please reserve your place online.

The event is being run in parallel with the Astrobiology Society of Britain's 6th biennial conference, which is being held at UCL.