Life in the Universe (Astronomy)

Recall cards on the search for life beyond Earth. The cosmic context: the chemical evolution of the elements, organic molecules and hydrocarbons, biochemistry, and Earth as the third planet with liquid water. Astrobiology: the elements and solvent life requires, extremophiles and the known limits of temperature, acidity, and alkalinity, the earliest fossils and stromatolites, the rise of oxygen, proteins and DNA, the RNA world, and the Miller-Urey experiments. Searching the solar system and beyond: the habitable zone, the Viking, Curiosity, and Perseverance missions to Mars, the subsurface oceans of Europa and Enceladus, the hydrocarbon lakes and tholins of Titan, the first exoplanet, and atmospheric biosignatures. And the search for extraterrestrial intelligence: the Drake equation, why radio waves are favored, Project Ozma, the Allen Telescope Array, Arecibo, FAST, and Breakthrough Listen.