Read....read....read

I spent most of yesterday catching up on all the reading I need to do for both the Mojave trip, and my Astrobiology class. From what I can tell, the scientific background required for the Spaceward Bound! expedition is a bit less than what we are doing in our upper-division Astrobio class, but it's still new science to me anyway....Particularly the (micro-) biology.

The way Dr. Kress is running our Astrobio class differs from your "average" college class. We have a very wide selection of students from both the Biology and Physics fields (I think I technically fall into the Physics side of things, but its all still "new" to me), both graduates and undergraduates. A large portion of the class is taught by our fellow students, who are responsible for teaching a lecture or two within our field of expertise, and one completely outside. So far, we have had some "basic" physics, molecular chemistry and thermodynamics, as well as some more advanced topics in micro-biology and evolution. Today, Dr. Kress started us into the geologic side of things with an intro-level discussion of the evolutionary history behind our planet, specifically the temperature over time as a function of solar radiation and greenhouse effects. Pretty straightforward concepts, with much debate on the "what actually happened" side of things.

The other readings I am catching up on are:
Desert Landforms and Surface Processes in the Mojave National Preserve and Vicinity
The camels of the prokaryotic world
Endolithic Cyanobacteria in Halite Rocks from the Hyperarid Core of the Atacama Desert
Assorted readigns on micro-bacterial soil crusts
A genomic timescale of prokaryote evolution: insights into the origin of methanogenesis, phototrophy and the colonization of land
Evidence for Life on Earth Before 3800 Million Years Ago
Oxygen-isotope evidence from ancient zircons for liquid water at Earth's surface 4,300 Myr ago
Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago
Exotic Earths: Forming Habitable Worlds with Giant Planet Migration
Lecture Notes on the Formation and Early Evolution of Planetary Systems

My motive in putting all these links here is mostly so I can have one central location for my own reference. This way I don't have to go wading through all the e-mail and html links people sent me in order to find that one article with the interesting info. I'll just come here and see what's on my list.

The last two articles on planetary formation are source material for my own presentation for my Astrobio class. I'll be presenting some basic theories on terrestrial planet formation, particularly as it applies to our solar system and in the formation of conditions favorable to life.

If you're interested, and will happen to be in the SJ area on April 6th or 9th, drop me a line, and I'll see what the class thinks about having guests for my lecture. Remember, no promises on the accuracy or completeness of my topics. After all, I'm just a lowly undergrad student!