The idea for an astrobiology program grew out of a special seminar, spearheaded by Sullivan and Oceanography Professor John Baross, that was offered at the University in 1996. The seminar, "Planets and Life," came shortly after the discovery of planets orbiting nearby stars and an announcement that NASA scientists possibly had found microbial fossils inside a Martian rock. That claim has come under growing skepticism and now appears unlikely. Some scientists contend that even if Martian fossils are found, the life forms themselves might have originated on Earth and been blown to the Red Planet in a cloud of interplanetary debris following the impact of an asteroid in the dim reaches of history. On the other hand, the discovery of planets in neighboring star systems has continued at an almost-dizzying pace, giving even more impetus to the study of astrobiology.

To actually launch the program, the faculty has faced a daunting task, including the design of five new courses to complement existing courses that will be included in the curriculum. The departments involved will have to figure out new ways of testing and grading students who aren't spending as much time on core course work as other majors. For instance, an astrobiology student majoring in chemistry will have very different course demands than other chemistry students. Fully one-third of astrobiology course work will be in areas not closely related to the student's home department, so an astronomy major pursuing astrobiology could well spend a lot of time studying microbiology or oceanography.

There's also a required annual workshop, three days in which students do research in the field ­ hunting for microscopic creatures at Hanford or studying comet dust under an electron microscope, searching for organic molecules vital for life to occur.

One thing astrobiology won't include ­ at least not formally ­ is something known as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI. Large arrays of radio telescopes focus on many different parts of the heavens, searching for an artificial radio signal among the abundant natural radio waves that flood space. Just one such verified signal could be the first contact from an intelligent being or race from some distant planet or galaxy ­ a phone call from ET, so to speak.

"The question is how screwy does it have to look before you can't come up with a natural explanation for it," Sullivan said. He noted that, back in the late 1960s, the regular waves from pulsars at first were studied as possible transmissions from intelligent beings.

The idea of studying extraterrestrial radio waves was first suggested in the late 1950s and the first observations came in 1960. Today perhaps 25 people worldwide devote at least half their time to SETI, and 100 or so ­ including Sullivan ­ attend the conferences and maintain a keen interest in SETI's progress.

They are driven by a belief ­ voiced by Jodie Foster's character in the Carl Sagan-inspired film "Contact" ­ that if, in this vast universe, we are the only advanced life, "it seems like an awful waste of space."

But Sullivan says SETI won't be a part of astrobiology. In 1990, SETI received funding from NASA, but skeptics in Congress, along with those who thought the money should go to something more worthwhile, turned off the cash spigot in 1993. It has, in short, become a lightning rod for the religious sensibilities of some and the government-spending concerns of others.

But Sullivan notes that with each succeeding decade, SETI has become a bit more respectable and has lost more of its "fringiness."

"In the same way, astrobiology also is becoming more respectable. It is being recognized as something that can be pursued scientifically, and should be," he said. "Even if extraterrestrial life is not discovered, the research spawned by astrobiology will undoubtedly lead to important new insights about life on our own planet."

Vince Stricherz is a science writer in the UW Office of News and Information and formerly a reporter for the Eastside Journal.


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