Astronomy 141 - Life in the Universe

Lecture 19: The Origin of Life on Earth

How did life arise from non-life? Frankly, we don't know, but current experimental work is aimed at trying to understand how it might work in biochemical terms. This lect

Lecture 18: The First Living Things on Earth

What are the first recognizable forms of life that we find in the geological record? How far back can we go in geological time and still find life? This lecture reviews t

Lecture 17: Life on the Edge

Extremophiles are organisms that are adapted to survive in extreme environments. This lecture describes the challenges that extremes of heat, cold, acidity, salinity, an

Lecture 16: DNA and Heredity

DNA and RNA are the key molecules of living cells. DNA plays a vital role in storing and transmitting the hereditary information that constitutes the "operating instruct

Lecture 15: The Chemistry of Life

What is the basic chemistry of living organisms? We introduce the requirements for metabolism (raw materials and energy), the ATP/ADP energy cycle in cells, auto- and he

Lecture 14: Cells

Cells are the basic structural and functional unit of all life on Earth. This lecture reviews the basic building blocks of cells, the main chemical components, the two ba

Lecture 13: What is Life?

How do we define life? This lecture reviews the six basic criteria for living systems described by biologists: order, reproduction, growth and development, energy utiliza

Lecture 12: Climate Regulation and Climate Change

What are the main mechanisms of climate regulation and climate change that have operated through Earth's history? The Earth's climate is regulated by a Carbon Dioxide the

Lecture 11: The History of the Earth

How have we pieced together the geological history of the Earth? This lecture reviews the different types of rocks and the cycle of transformation between them, with part

Lecture 10: The Earth's Atmosphere Erratum

This lecture was to be about the Earth's atmosphere, its composition and structure, the greenhouse effect, and the primordial atmosphere, but about 2 seconds into the lec

Lecture 9: Inside the Earth

What is the interior structure of the Earth and how does it drive the Earth's magnetic and geologic activity? We will review our current knowledge of the interior of the

Lecture 8: The Cosmological Revolution - The Depths of Space and Time

Cosmology is the study of the entire Universe as a physical system. The past century has witnessed a revolution in cosmological thought that has revealed the vastness of

Lecture 7: The Biological Revolution - What is Life?

What is the nature of life? In this lecture I will review the revolution in biological thinking that has dramatically changed how we view life. I will review such persi

Lecture 6: The Geological Revolution - Deep Time and the Age of the Earth

The geological revolution revealed that the Earth is of great antiquity and yet has a history we can read in the land. We will discuss ideas of cyclic and linear time, h

Lecture 5: The Chemical Revolution and the Nature of Matter

What is the nature of matter, and how did we come to understand the chemical elements and atomic structure? This lecture is a brief and selective overview of the history

Lecture 4: The Copernican Revolution

Modern science was borne of an effort over many centuries to understand the motions of celestial bodies. The Copernican Revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries was the

Lecture 3: Imagining Other Worlds

What is the cultural history of our imaginings of other worlds and their possible inhabitants? I will draw examples from history, philosophy, literature, cinema, and po

Lecture 2: Astronomical Numbers

An introduction and review of the basic notation and physical units we will be using throughout this course. In particular, we will be using the Metric (SI) system for le

Lecture 1: Introduction

A brief overview of the topics we will cover in Astronomy 141, setting the stage for how we can make a serious scientific inquiry out of the question of whether or not th

Welcome to Astronomy 141

Welcome to the Astronomy 141 Lecture Podcasts. This is a brief message from me explaining the podcasts, and welcoming new and old listeners. University. Lectures will beg