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ASTRO BIOL OG Y
Table of Contents 5 | INTRODUCTION: The Universe 7 | INTRODUCTION: Life on Earth 8 | INTRODUCTION: Extremophiles 9 | INTRODUCTION: The Kit 1 1 | ACTIVITY: Tardigrade Hunter 14 | ACTIVITY: It's Alive!? 17 | ACTIVITY: Stargazing 20 | CONCLUSIONÂ 21 | VOCABULARY
The Universe IS VERY VERY BIG... According to the European Space Agency,
, h c u o t feel,
Universe is everything we can
measure,
. t c e t e d or
sen se,
The
That's a whole lot of things.
Think of all the things you can touch, feel, sense, measure, or detect.
DOGS
CAKE BALLOONS
These are all a part of our universe.
THE UNIVERSE ISN'T JUST LIMITED TO EARTH...
Recently, scientists have gotten really good atÂ
the universe... fo
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some pretty cool stuff in
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detecting
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Like
STARS,
Or
EARTH-LIKE PLANETS,
(Credit: EHT Collaboration) (Credit: NASA/Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech
fiery balls of gas like our sun that give off EXTREME amounts of light and heat
planets similar to earth that may even house EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE
Life
is incredibly diverse, but there is
ON
1.5 million
Earth different species of
a lot we still don't know about it.
THE INCREDIBLE PLACES WE FIND LIFE CONTINUE TO SURPRISE US...
plants and animals are currently known to science,
We still don't even know the exact limits of life, like how hot is too hot, or how cold is too cold.
recent estimates suggest earth could be home to up to
2 billion!
however
From lakes in Antartica under hundreds of meters of ice, to literal boiling water, life tends to find a way.Â
OUR IDEAS ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ALIVE ARE CHALLENGED EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Extremophiles are organisms that live in extreme environments. They tend to have unique adaptations that allow them to survive and thrive in some pretty crazy places, many very similar to what we find on other planets in our solar system and beyond.
Extremophiles are what give this boiling hot lake in Yellowstone National Park its crazy cool colors. Because they live in extreme heat, these guys are thermophiles.
Tardigrades are microscopic extremophiles that can survive the vacuum of space! They survive by going into 'cryptobiosis'; an extreme version of hibernation.
If life can find a way in all these wild places on earth, who's to say that life couldn't exist on another planet?
IN THIS KIT YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT
Astrobiology THE STUDY OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE.
Astrobiology combines fields such as astronomy (the study of space and the physical universe), biology (the study of life), planetary science, and geology (the study of earth)
IN THIS KIT YOU WILL FIND: -Â All the materials and methodology for three exciting experiments, including a phone microscope - Facts, information, and explanations of relevant scientific concepts - Hours and hours of fun scientific exploration!
Activities
Tardigrade hunter: We learned earlier about how extremophile tardigrades survive the vacuum of space. However, we can also find them in the moss we see everyday here on earth! In this activity, you will collect tardigrades from moss around your home or classroom, and watch them wiggle and squirm using your phone microscope.
you need: 1 paper bag 1 butter knife 2 included dishes Included phone microscope 1 smart phone with a camera Water, preferably distilled About two handfuls of moss or lichen
Procedure: 1
Collect moss or lichen samples from your garden, a nearby park, or anywhere damp and dark. With a butter knife, scrape them into your paper bag.
2 3
Let the samples soak in water overnight in one petri dish. This will rehydrate any hibernating tardigrades if your moss is dry!
Squeeze the water from the rehydrated moss into the second petri dish. Your tardigrades are there, you just cant see them yet!
4
Pop the included phone microscope onto your camera phone and watch the tardigrades swim around! You can take pictures, or just observe and learn.
YOU MAY ALSO SEE NEMATODES.. Microscopic wormlike creatures that inhabit almost every place on earth.
USEFUL ADAPTATIONS Tardigrades have adapted to their mossy habitat by drying
what do
themselves out and hibernating when there isn't enough water. How could this help them survive on planets with very harsh summers, or very little
EXTREMOPHILES tell us about where life could
water?
exist?
Thinking Points EXPERIMENT: Let's test out this whole hibernation thing. Try drying out your tardigrades by leaving the dish in the sun until all the water evaporates. Then, put in new water and leave the dish overnight. Check with your phone microscope if the tardigrades are rehydrated!
TARDIGRADES ON THE MOON An Israeli spaceship recently crashed on the moon, releasing 1000s of tardigrades. How do we prevent this in the future? Can we keep alien worlds purely alien?
It's Alive!?
mystery packs
You might think that you're pretty good at telling what's alive and what isn't. Cats? definitely alive! A rock? Probably not so alive. However, there are lots of places where the line between living matter and non-living matter is pretty blurry. In this activity, you will investigate three mystery substances to figure out which one is the living creature!
you need: 3 included mystery powders 3 included petri dishes Included phone microscope 1 smart phone with a camera Warm sugar water (40 °C) Room temperature water 1 Stirring stick 1 Marker
Procedure: 1
Pour half of each of the mystery packets into the three petri dishes. Label them according to the packet they came from
2 3
the powders. Smell them, look at them with your microscope; what do you notice?
Pour the room temperature water into one of the dishes for all three powders. Do they react? What changes? What does this mean?
4 5
Before performing any of the tests, investigate
Now rinse the dishes and pour out the other half of the mystery powders. Add warm sugar water and wait. Do you notice any reactions?
Guess which powder is alive and check the answer below. Were you right? What other tests could you do to get a better guess?
ANSWER S
adoS gnikaB + dica cirtiC :3 tekcap yretsyM )evila( tsaey :2 tekcap yretsyM trebrehS :1 tekcap yretsyM
IDENTIFYING LIFE Trying to decide whether or not something is alive is far more difficult when that thing is lightyears away. If you had trouble figuring out which powder was living
how could we
DETECT LIFE on another
today, imagine how much harder it'd be if the powder was on Mars! In trying to detect life on other planets, scientists have a lot of tools, but also make
planet?
a lot of mistakes.
Thinking Thinking points points REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: NASA VIKING LANDER In 1976, the two Viking landers performed tests for life on Martian soil. The results are still debated today, mostly because scientists aren't sure if the tests were actually detecting life, like the yeast, or just picking up on normal chemical reactions, like the alka seltzer or drink powder.
HOW DID YOU KNOW THE ANSWER?
Stargazing
& earthlike planets You've probably looked up at the stars before, but in this activity we'll be thinking about all the things you can't see with the naked eye. A huge part of understanding life outside of earth relies on knowing what exactly there is in outer space that could be a potential home for life, from water worlds to icy comets.
DOWNLOAD FREE STARGAZING APP:
you need: Smart phone Something comfortable to lay down on Imagination!
Procedure: 1
On a clear night, organize a class stargazing evening or go out with your family to stargaze. Make sure to bring something comfy to lie on!
2 3
Have an adult with a smartphone download Star Chart from the appstore.
Using the app, look at all the stars in the sky. Try to count them, or identify specific stars using the app. How does that make you feel?
4
Each of the stars you're looking at probably has around 10 exoplanets, planets located out of our solar system. Try to imagine what some of these exoplanets might be like.
STAR TO LOOK OUT FOR: Tau Ceti: has 5 exoplanets, two of which could be habitable, and is similar in many ways to our sun.
IMAGINING NEW EARTHS Think of all the planets you imagined in the activity. What kind of creatures would inhabit these other planets? How would the environment affect the creature and what adaptations would they have? How have earth creatures adapted to their unique environments as well?
what types of
what types of
planets could
planets could
SUPPORT LIFE?
Thinking points
NOT support life?
CHANCES OF ALIEN LIFE When you tried to count how many stars there are in the night sky, how far did you get? Now, these are only the stars you can see with your eyes.
A single ear of corn in a large field is as strange as a single
We also tried to imagine the many exoplanets that could surround these stars. With this many opportunities for life, doesn't it seem unlikely we would be the only ones?
world in infinite space
- METRODORUS OF CHIOS
o S
W
? t a
h
We found that deciding if something is
ALIVE
We've discovered that there are earth organisms called
EXTREMOPHILES (like our pet tardigrades) that can survive in the most
CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENTS on earth, and maybe even outside of earth.
is pretty difficult, and can be even harder if that thing is on
ANOTHER PLANET And, we've explored the
DIVERSITY OF PLANETS outside of our solar system, planets that might be capable of
SUPPORTING LIFE
o t p u s ' t i Now
YOU Ask the
QUESTIONS n o b o d y
e l s e
i s
a s k i n g .
Think, act, inquire, and explore like a
SCIENTIST. Because, you might just see something everyone else missed, and finally discover
EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE.
VOCAB
Where there any terms you didn't quite catch? Here's your chance to go a little deeper!
DIVERSE Different and varied in many ways. Life on earth is diverse because you can find anything from a butterfly to an elephant!
SPECIES A classification of living things. A species is generally a group of living organisms capable of producing offspring, such as dogs
ORGANISMS Organisms are living things, from plants, animals, and fungi, to single-celled organisms.
ADAPTATIONS Adaptations are ways that organisms can change over time to be better suited to their environment.
ENVIRONMENT An organism's environment is everything around the organism that surrounds and affects it, whether that be a rock or a tree.