Some Articles and YouTube Videos for Astro 5 "Life in the Universe"

 

Articles, Misc Resources

For Macs - Explanet for iOS (Exoplanet app:visual and interactive catalogue of all known exoplanets

Zircons: Time Capsules from the Early Earth (8 min YouTube)

Videos

Videos I've built quizzes around...

Who is Out There? Why Alien Life May Be Wierder Than We Imagine (World Science Festival 2019) (59:55) - I've built a quiz out of this very interesting presentation.

"Looking for Life on Mars" (2021, on Perseverance Mission mostly) (53 min) also can see directly on YouTube Here

"Alien Life - Will We Know It When We See It?" (2014) World Science Festival (1:33:14)

Other Great Videos

Astrobiology and the Origins of Life (UCSC "COSMOS" lecture; 1 hr)

Scaling relations and life - Geoffrey West

Why We Might Be Alone in the Universe (PBS. 15:58 only first 12:22 is relevant. Nice visuals. A super fast summary of Peter Ward's work.)

Sean Carroll: The Nature of the Universe, Life, and Intelligence (34:49) - interview on Lex Fridman

On the first discovered Interstellar Object - Oumuamua
Avi Loeb: Aliens, Black Holes, and the Mystery of Oumuamua (2:43:50) - interview on Lex Fridman, but better is...
Avi Loeb: Why Oumuamua may be the first sign of intelligent extraterrestrial life (1:46:26) on Event Horizon. You can skip the first 24 minutes, it's a bit of a tirade against overly-conservative scientists.
Avi Loeb: ET Life: Are we the sharpest cookies in the jar?" (includes mention of Siraj and Loeb 2021 claims there's not enough nitrogen in the galaxy to plausibly explain Oumuamua as a nitrogen iceberg.
Avi Loeb: Taking Alien Life Seriously (on Sean Carroll's Mindscape podcast) ( 1:40:35)

M Cuik's thoughts on "The Nature of Oumuamua" (45:38)
Seth Shostak of SETI and Avi Loeb on the nature of Oumuamua "Where Should we Look for ET?" (2021) (42:11)
Dr. Karen Meech: What is Oumuamua? (41:01)

Searching the Universe for ExtraTerrestrial Life - a brief history (5:34)

Silicon-based life might not be possible (14 min)

Why life in the universe may be hidden (Event Horizon) (58:55)

Astrobiology in the Field (a fun look at a field trip to Iceland) (19:20)

Warp Drives and Aliens (at very elementary level, but may be worthwhile for some) (1:21:12)

Do Gamma Ray Bursts Explain Fermi's Paradox? (James Annis 2020 on Event Horizon) (46:47) - very good)

Search for Planets and Life Outside the Solar System (Sara Seager on Lex Fridman #116 2020) (1:41:34)

Kate Jeffrey on Entropy, Complexity, and Evolution (1:12:59) on Mindscape

Alien Life: Will We Know it When We See It? (World Science Festival) (1:33:29)

The Singular Origin of Complex Life - Nick Lane (1:01:32) in 2017

Nova PBS "Beyond the Elements: Life" (53:17) David Pough narrates. (can skip the first few minutes, the middle segment is on the origin of life)

The Gaia and Medea Hypotheses - (Does life force Earth to be habitable? Or does life kill itself?)

The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? Peter Ward at Microsoft. Skip through the first ~10-12 minutes quickly.
Big Think Interview with Peter Ward (30min)

Inevitable Life?" - D. Eric Smith at the Sante Fe Institute (2007) (1:03:57) - a beautifully organized and elegantly simplified presentation of life at its essence, great questions you won't find easily elsewhere, and relation to how common it may be in the universe.