Those who had ever wondered whether life exists outside of Earth
had an opportunity for their questions to be answered at the
“Life in the Universe” Astrobiology Symposium, Sunday
afternoon in Ackerman Grand Ballroom.
The symposium featured educational displays of planets and facts
along with numerous take-home pamphlets. Keynote speakers included
Dr. Jill Tarter, director of the Center for Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research and the popular comedian,
Bill Nye the Science Guy, from the Emmy award-winning
children’s show.
The goal of the symposium was to help educate both the UCLA
community and the public about the relatively new field of
astrobiology and its new technological findings.
Astrobiology “is the study of the origin, evolution,
distribution and destiny of life in the universe” as defined
in the symposium pamphlet. It is a young field that encompasses
various disciplines such as biology, philosophy, zoology, astronomy
and physics.
Astrobiology attempts to answer such questions as how life began
and evolved, if life exists elsewhere in the universe, and what is
the future of life on earth.
Nye spoke about the possibilities of life on other planets and
new research being done in the hopes of answering if life exists
elsewhere.
Nye became interested in a career in science because he wanted
to teach people about science in order to have more scientists in
the future.
Nye’s favorite part of his job is that he “learns
new things every day and gets to meet people who are experts in
their field.”
Tarter, the other keynote speaker, spoke about the technology
used in investigating if there is other life in the universe.
Tarter first became interested in the topic when asked to help
with the computer she programmed for SETI and has ever since been
intrigued by the possibility of life outside of earth.
The SETI Institute, in partnership with UC Berkeley’s
Radio Astronomy Laboratory, is developing the first ever radio
telescope, the Allen Telescope Array, which they hope will catch
extraterrestrial signals.
Tarter sees the future of astrobiology “wherever the
bright students entering the field want to take it,” she
said.
Charanya Arjun, a fourth-year English student, went to the
symposium because she was generally interested in the subject. She
said she also wanted to see Bill Nye in one of his bow ties.
Joann Zhang, a first-year astrophysics student, found the
presentation helpful in “getting more information on the
field and the future of astrobiology.”
The Astrobiology Symposium was presented by UCLA’s
Astrobiology Society, which is the first official student group to
be devoted to astrobiology in the country. The society was founded
in 1999, and is co-sponsored by the UCLA team of the NASA
Astrobiology Institute and the Center for Study of Evolution.
Earlier this year the society put on a Columbia space shuttle
memorial, which was presented on campus following the
shuttle’s explosion on Feb. 1.