“When I think of the Earth, I think about…”

By Rabeea Rasheed When I think of the Earth, I think about it as one strange rock orbiting in space around an average star. Earth makes me think about my place in the universe, forcing me to seek answers to some of the biggest questions – questions about our existence and mysteries of the universe such as what is the possibility of life somewhere out there, in the great unknown; if it exists, what would be the nature of that […]

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“When I think of the Earth, I think about…”

By Elisabeth Lee When I think of the Earth, I think about how it is a home for so much life — plants, microbes, fungi, animals, and humans. Technological advances discovered by humans have given us the potential to discover more about our world and uncover its past. While humans are capable of so much positive change, we have the ability to cause so much damage as well. The effects of climate change are permeating into ecosystems, the atmosphere, and […]

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Studying the Climate History of Mars – a new Habitable Worlds grant to BMSIS Scientist Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra

Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science was recently awarded a grant by the NASA Habitable Worlds program to study the climate history of early Mars. This project will draw upon recent geologic discoveries from the ongoing exploration of Mars to understand how Mars was once able to sustain an unfrozen ocean. Dr. Haqq-Misra will collaborate with Dr. Michael Way of NASA GISS in this project, which uses computational models of the Martian climate to calculate […]

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Pubs: Habitable Zones & Planetary Mass

A new paper led by Dr. Ravi Kopparapu explores the liquid water habitable zone for terrestrial planets and how these limits change with planetary mass. Astronomers are currently interested in identifying extrasolar planets that may be habitable, and calculations such as those led by Dr. Kopparapu help to understand the range of planetary parameters that could retain such conditions. The paper is titled “Habitable zones around main-sequence stars: Dependence on planetary mass” and is available as a pre-print on arXiv.org. […]

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Podcast: Is the Earth Rare?

This month, our “Beer with BMSIS” podcast features a conversation with Penn State Professor Jim Kasting about the question, Is the Earth Rare?. One of the pioneers of the field of planetary habitability, and author of the book How to Find a Habitable Planet, Dr. Kasting leads a discussion on some of the factors that have been suggested to be necessary for the development of life, complexity, and intelligence. Drawing from his own research, Kasting describes how many of the […]

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Podcast: Dr. Jon Petters on Science & Policy

The February edition of “Beer with BMSIS” is now available online! This month’s podcast features a discussion with Dr. Jon Petters titled “Democracy in Action: An Atmospheric Scientist Jumps into Science Policy“. Join us as Jon discusses his experiences as a AAAS fellow in Washington D.C. and his advice for scientists interested in policy. [listen to the conversation]

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