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NASA Astrobiology Institute

Origin and Evolution of Life

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Questions about Origin and Evolution of Life

David Morrison said this in response to a "Pole Shift" question: "If this means some sudden change in the position of the pole (that is, the rotation axis of the Earth), then that is impossible. There is no point in speculating about the consequences of something that has never happened and never will." But NASA also says this about "Pole Shift": "Sometimes the field completely flips. The north and the south poles swap places. Such reversals, recorded in the magnetism of ancient rocks, are unpredictable. They come at irregular intervals averaging about 300,000 years; the last one was 780,000 years ago. Are we overdue for another? No one knows." (http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/29dec_magneticfield.html). Can this be cleared up for me and maybe some other people who may have caught this contradiction?

I am looking through some eighth grade science test questions and came across this one. The subject is what elements the earth is made from. Given as an incorrect is: "All matter on Earth is made from elements from the Sun", and the test makers correct answer is : "All matter on earth is made from about 100 elements." It is my understanding that all the elements were created in the big bang, and the sun is the product of that event, and that as the sun burns it is producing elements... Please clarify.

My staff and I (hydrogeologists and civil engineers) are getting a tremendous kick out of Nibiru. It is a great stress reliever in a period of both hydrologic and political drought in California. After we get back off the floor from laughing over the Nibiru blogs and the 2012 doomsday chroniclers, we are sobered by the fact that probably 90% of the Nibiru followers really believe in this crap. NASA is doing a great job in its responses and it is sad that with all the cool information coming in from all he missions flown by satellites, probes, shuttle and the space station, the American people focus on this.

I consider myself a would-be astronomer and i want to know about Uranus's violent storms like it's "dark spot" my art teacher rants about Nibiru and how it's a brown dwarf. He says that based off of Uranus's vast heat and violent storms, it is still developing. He claims that Voyager II discovered that it's still growing and developing and it could become a 2nd brown dwarf .

Regarding terraforming the Moon, does anyone really know how long the Moon could hold onto most of a substantial atmosphere deposited there? Please bear in mind that (according to Wikipedia) the Moon has an equatorial gravitational constant of 0.1654g while Titan has an equatorial gravitational constant of 0.14g and a surface pressure of 146.7 kPa and Venus has an equatorial gravitational constant of 0.904g and a surface pressure of 9,300 kPa, all of which suggests that the moon may indeed be able to hold onto a substantial atmosphere for a non-trivial amount of time in human terms.

What are scientists and astronomers talking about when they make reference to a "dark star", considering a star emits light?

For intelligent life to form on another planet, does the planet have to be the same/similar to earth?

Hello,I am from China,yesterday ,I watched a scientific program [Explore and search],which said that:two previous employee of NASA write a book named [DARK MISSION],which debunk many truth about MOON and MARS covered by NASA,such as GLASS COVER on the moon,artifical tower,even anti-grav device.Is that real? A Widely spreaded story that Astronaut of AOPPLO 11 withnessed UFO on the moon,is that real? If it is not real, who made this story?

Some speculate that the current catastrophies is due to climate change, and push heavily for renewable energy and all sorts of new ways to some how fix it. But the way I see it, earthquakes, hurricanes etc. are definitely not man made. Say we point the finger at the sun and call it global warming, then surely these same types of effects must be observable elsewhere. Do scientists think about taking a closer look at other planets in our solar system to compare?

Were there good conditions for a life on the Venus in the past? Was not the Venus hit by large asteroid recently (several thousand years)? Would not the Earth look like Venus now if hit by large asteroid?

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