Astronomy Research and the Search of Extraterrestrial Life Paper

Astronomy Research and the Search of Extraterrestrial Life Paper
Megan Lade
University of Phoenix (Online Campus)
Christopher Conner

All life on this planet is linked to the geology of Earth, and vice versa – we (all organisms) are supposed to be living in a symbiotic relationship with our world. When Earth was developing deep within its curst began the first traces of raw materials and minerals that would fuel life for many years to come. We adapt and change to our ever evolving planet mostly due to changes in our environment and geology. There are many properties of life on Earth – order, reproduction, growth and adaptations; all of which depend on the available resources Earth has to give. “96% of every organism is composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen” (The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth). We all depending on one another to survive – plants on the sun, herbivories on the plants, carnivores on the herbivories – we are all part of the grand plan.

There are several theories of how ‘we’ all began, including the most common – The Big Band Theory. Other notable theories include the Electric Spark theory, where sparks from the atmosphere to Earth generated amino acids and sugars loaded with water and methane which served as building blocks for the struggling organisms developing. Another was the Community Clay idea that stated molecules came together on clay that allowed them to concentrate in a particular area and organized them into patterns as our genes are known to do. Deep-sea vents were recognized as the earliest possible place where microorganisms would have begun to develop; the vents again allowing molecules to concentrate and feed off of their rich chemical and thermal energy. A most fictional theory is known as panspermia – which states that Earth didn’t begin here at all; rather the first living things were thrown from space onto our planet and began to evolve.

Natural selection is what drives diversity within our species and continues to push life forward on Earth. It is a process in which heritable, biological traits, become either more or less common within a population depending on how that trait affects the reproductive success of the species. Natural selection is deemed as the key to evolution – without it many species would die out as they could not adapt to changing environments, food sources and lifestyles. The most notable study of natural selection was done by Charles Darwin when he visited the Galapagos Islands. He noticed that although there were many finches flying from area to area amongst the islands they had different beak sizes and characteristics. Some had blunt, short beaks and fed on fruit widely available in the area of these finches – while others had longer, sharp beaks that fed on insects on other parts of the Galapagos. These birds evolved from a common ancestor to thrive in the area in which they lived (based on the food available). Natural selection also occurs in other animals, plants – even the smallest of organisms. Directional selection is a type of natural selection that has to do with studying, collecting and plotting data with regards to the coloring of a species for the purpose of camouflage. This helps a particular animal hide from predators or tricks them into thinking they are other species to avoid predation. Another example of natural selection would be disruptive selection which has to do with studying, collecting and plotting data with regards to the coloring of a species for the purpose of adaptation. A popular study done was London’s peppered moths – most are very lightly colored and continue to procreate with that characteristic; while others that live in industrial areas develop spotty if not completely ‘dusty’ colors.

Life on Earth has evolved over the last 3 billion years and was assumed to have begun more than 3.8+ billion years ago with developing organisms that lived in undersea alkaline vents. These single celled organisms began feeding on methane and started to evolve. Then around 2.5 billion years ago the ‘great oxidation event’ occurred. “Supposedly, the poisonous waste produced by photosynthetic cyanobacteria, oxygen, starts to build up in the atmosphere” (Timeline: The Evolution of Life) and volcanic activity started feeding our planet. 2 billion years marked the earliest existence of eukaryotic cells (what complex organisms are made of). Those cells fed on photosynthetic bacteria and began to grow into 3 of the 5 kingdoms known today: plants, fungi and animals. Around 680 million years ago sea animals came into the picture and around 500 million years there was evidence found that animals starting roaming terrestrial Earth. Plants then began to colonize and around 400 million years ago the first insect began to exist. Just under the 400 million year mark the first 4 legged animals started to evolve. Since, the species on Earth grew into bumble bees, great whales, giraffes and large redwood trees – with varying phenotypes among groups…all from one cell.

Earth is the planet in which we live but we are still learning more and more about it each day. These new developments help us understand what may be possible on other planets. We know that life began early in Earth’s history and this may suggest that live on other plants may also evolve rapidly under the right conditions. “Laboratory experiments have shown that the chemical constituents thought to have been common on the young Earth combine readily into complex organic molecules. These experiments suggest that life might have arisen through naturally occurring chemistry—in which case the same chemistry could have given rise to life on many other worlds (Bennett, Donahue, Schneider & Voit, 2012, paged 501-502). Studies have also shown that microscopic organisms here on Earth have similarities to those on other planets – could you image under ideal conditions rapid evolution somewhere else than here! One can see how this would intrigue others to start searching for extraterrestrial life. Media and other forms of entertainment seem to suggest that humanoid aliens will ascend to Earth and take over our planet…which is very misleading. Government funded organizations work hard to search for cellular live in our universe. One organization, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence) has promised to “explore, understand, and explain the origin and nature of life in the universe, and to apply the knowledge gained to inspire and guide present and future generations… our current understanding of life’s origin on Earth suggests that given a suitable environment and sufficient time, life will develop on other planets (SETI Institute). Another popular way to continue our search is via radio telescopes that look for electric signatures in space which would be put into the universe by a living cell.

Earth is an ever changing, ever evolving planet that continues to inspire research of life here and other planets. Much can be learned from what our planet has lived through and patterns start to emerge to predict what may happen in the future.

References

Bennett, J., Donahue, M., Schneider, N., & Voit, M. (2012). The Essential Cosmic Perspective (6ed ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson/Addison Wesley.

The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2015, from http://www.uic.edu/classes/bios/bios100/mike/spring2003/lect04.htm

SETI Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2015, from http://www.seti.org

Timeline: The evolution of life. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2015, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17453-timeline-the-evolution-of-life.html

References: Bennett, J., Donahue, M., Schneider, N., & Voit, M. (2012). The Essential Cosmic Perspective (6ed ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson/Addison Wesley. The Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2015, from http://www.uic.edu/classes/bios/bios100/mike/spring2003/lect04.htm SETI Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2015, from http://www.seti.org Timeline: The evolution of life. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2015, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17453-timeline-the-evolution-of-life.html