主题：【讨论】NASA 是不是发现外星生命了？ -- bxdfhbh

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html

MEDIA ADVISORY : M10-167 NASA Sets News Conference on Astrobiology Discovery; Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 2 p.m. EST On Dec. 2 WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

The news conference will be held at the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St. SW, in Washington. It will be broadcast live on NASA Television and streamed on the agency's website at http://www.nasa.gov.

Participants are:

- Mary Voytek, director, Astrobiology Program, NASA Headquarters, Washington

- Felisa Wolfe-Simon, NASA astrobiology research fellow, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, Calif.

- Pamela Conrad, astrobiologist, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

- Steven Benner, distinguished fellow, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.

- James Elser, professor, Arizona State University, Tempe

Media representatives may attend the conference or ask questions by phone or from participating NASA locations. To obtain dial-in information, journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to Steve Cole at [email protected] or call 202-358-0918 by noon Dec. 2.

For NASA TV streaming video and downlink information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For more information about NASA astrobiology activities, visit:

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov

- end -

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NASA12月2号将发布关于Astrobiology Discovery的 会议

Astrobiology可是天体生物学的意思啊！

extraterrestrial life是外星生命的意思。

“impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life”，不要只盯着extraterrestrial life.

看起来有可能是在地外天体发现了液态水、生物有机分子、或者生物合成过程存在过的证据。最有可能的object包括：火星、Europa、Titian、彗星（这些都是NASA近年的探测热点）；还有星际分子云（interstellar molecular cloud，存在大量小分子，如HCN，HCHO，CH4等等）。

学术上来讲，Astrobiology 和 extraterrestrial life主要研究的是有机物在星际空间中的分布与起源，地外生命存在的证据以及起源。这里的生命起源是指在相关条件下，如何从有机小分子合成氨基酸等单体，如何富集这些单体形成聚合物，如何产生手性，如何形成遗传转录系统，如何形成细胞结构，等等等等。通常与世俗意义上的外星人没有任何关系。

PS,俺现在的工资就是NASA Astrobiology的funding发的