COMPLEXITY Physics of Life, Ep 6: Multiple worlds, containing multitudes
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Apr 10, 2024 NASA's Heather Graham discusses astrobiology, biosignatures, and designing instrumentation for spaceflight. The podcast explores Katherine Johnson's story through a rock opera, origins of life in Earth's depths, evolution, regulation in organisms and organizations, comparison of company evolution to cellular systems, and the significance of asteroid sample returns for studying Earth's history.
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Multiple Origins of Life
- Astrobiology's "n equals one" problem assumes a single origin of life, limiting our search.
- Multiple life origins may have existed on Earth, challenging the assumption and broadening possibilities.
Life in the Deep Subsurface
- Earth's deep subsurface, isolated for billions of years, could harbor different life forms.
- This environment also serves as a model for energy-limited worlds in our solar system.
Value of Sample Return
- Sample return missions, like OSIRIS-REx, provide high-resolution data for analysis.
- Analyzing pristine asteroid samples in Earth labs allows for more precise studies than robotic systems.