Olivia Doyle
Mr. Ippolito
Core Biology
25 May 2017
Strickland, Ashley. "NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life beyond
Earth."CNN. Cable News Network, 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.
This week, I read an article entitled “NASA: Nearby ocean worlds could be best bet for life beyond Earth” written by Ashley Strickland. The article discussed new evidence discovered by NASA that lead researchers to believe Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus could be possible candidates for life beyond Earth. Through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft, researchers have found hydrogen molecules in water plumes on Enceladus, which could indicate the presence of hydrothermal activity inside its body, which could be a sign that there is life on this moon. Other evidence collected by the Hubble Space Telescope indicates that there was a water plume erupting on the surface of Europa. It is stated that this is the second time a plume has been observed in the exact spot, so it is highly likely that Europa has more of these to offer and support life. A cosmic dust analyzer on the Cassini satellite revealed silicon dioxide grains, indicating warm hydrothermal activity. Scientist Waite says, “This (molecular hydrogen) is just like the icing on the cake," Waite said. "Now, you see the chemical energy source that microbes could use”. From here, scientists are eager to collect more data from Enceladus and search for sulfur and phosphorus, which are other necessary ingredients for life. It is stated that, “The second step would be looking for signs of life by flying a spectrometer through the plume, searching for rations of amino and fatty acids, certain isotopic ratios indicative of life and other relationships in molecules that indicate energy for microbial life”. Additionally, the “Europa clipper” satellite is set to orbit Jupiter in 2020 to further investigate Europa’s crust for signs of life.
The discovery of water on Europa and Enceladus is a major scientific breakthrough. Thomas Zurbuchen says that it is the closest NASA has come so far to identifying habitable places in our solar system. “These results demonstrate the interconnected nature of NASA's science missions that are getting us closer to answering whether we are indeed alone or not." Another scientist, Schmidt, even believes that Europa is so similar to Earth that it could have been a place for life over the history of our solar system. This is not only revolutionary for scientists, but for ordinary communities like our own and humanity as a whole. To discover characteristics of life beyond our Earth suggests that in the future, humans could live other places in our solar system besides Earth. Waite says, “Understanding the diversity of our solar system is pretty important and the possibility of applying what we know here to exoplanets, it just opens up the range of possibilities for life beyond our previous expectations”.
In my opinion, the article was very well-written and did not lack any key components. The article addressed how the experiment was carried out and exactly how the data was collected, which gave the reader interesting information on NASA’s equipment and how it is used in scientific experiments. The author provided a solid analysis as to how this affects humanity as a whole and what life on these two moons could mean. She goes as far to explain where scientists will go next with these discoveries, which makes the reader interested in researching this topic further and seeing what happens with the next satellite. The author also provided different scientists’ opinions, which provided the reader with an understanding of experts’ differing views on the discoveries. She addressed past missions and why this one was so revolutionary. However, the author could have gone further in depth with explaining why each ingredient for life is necessary, and how we humans use each here on Earth. Overall, though, the article sparked my interest in the possibility of life beyond Earth and encouraged me to delve further into the topic of what makes a place habitable.
Sarah Goodell
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Core Bio: Current Event Comment
29 May, 2017
Current Event #13
Strickland, Ashley. "NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life beyond
Earth."CNN. Cable News Network, 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/us/nasa-europa-enceladus-ocean-worlds-announcement-trnd/index.html
My classmate, Olivia Doyle, wrote a review on the article “NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life Beyond Earth” by CNN author Ashley Strickland. Firstly, Olivia did a great job summarizing NASA’s findings on each of Jupiter’s moons in an understandable way for her readers. She was also able to explain why this information is significant for future space travel. This allows Olivia’s review to be properly set-up for her audience. Secondly, Olivia was able to include information about NASA’s possible plans for future missions. For example, when she says, “...the “Europa clipper” satellite is set to orbit Jupiter in 2020 to further investigate Europa’s crust for signs of life.” This establishes a sense of credibility within her work and also informs her audience that more is being done to continue research on this topic. Finally, Olivia wrote a strong critic on the author of her article, Ashley Strickland, which also allowed her to prove her credibility as a critique. In this paragraph, she also addresses how this article has changed her perspective on the situation of finding Earth-like planets.
Although Olivia explained NASA’s findings on Europa and Enceladus in detail, she could have outlined what is needed for humans to be able to live on one of these moons, as well. If she had directly addressed what type of environment these moons need to have in order to support human life, her readers would therefore be more informed on her topic and on the pressing situation at hand. Olivia could have included this in her first paragraph, where she talks about the hydrothermal activity and water plumes on the moons. For example, she writes, “Through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft, researchers have found hydrogen molecules in water plumes on Enceladus, which could indicate the presence of hydrothermal activity inside its body, which could be a sign that there is life on this moon. Other evidence collected by the Hubble Space Telescope indicates that there was a water plume erupting on the surface of Europa.” Also, Olivia did not address the steps that would need to be taken in order for humans to actually reach Jupiter. This is a crucial piece in this process, so as readers, we need to know if NASA’s efforts would be put to waste if we find out that we cannot even make it to the moons themselves. If Olivia had discussed this question and her opinion on it, she would have been able to better establish herself as a critic.
To conclude, Olivia’s detailed review has made me think more about the possibility of leaving Earth for another planet. I had never thought that this kind of space travel could really be possible, but with NASA’s new evidence, I am confident that our scientists can find a way to make this long-held dream a reality. In Olivia’s review, she mentions that one scientist in particular believes that there may have even been life on one of Jupiter’s moons in the past. This is a thought that had never occurred to me, and leaves me to question and wonder about the many mysteries that are still left in our universe.
Marina Alfano
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Current Event 14
4/5/17
Strickland, Ashley. "NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life beyond Earth."CNN. Cable News Network, 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/04/13/us/nasa-europa-enceladus-ocean-worlds-announcement-trnd/index.html
My classmate Olivia Doyle wrote a review on the article titles “NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life Beyond”, published by CNN. One thing I liked about her review was her brief yet clear summary of the article. Olivia provided the reader with the perfect amount of information for them to have a general understanding on this topic. Another aspect that made her review well written was the insertion of quotes when something needed deeper explaining. She took quotes from scientists investigating possibly habitable places in our solar system. It was helpful to hear exactly what these scientists had to say since they know the material better than anyone else. In her review for the article, it is evident that Olivia took time analyzing it and reading it thoroughly. Not only does she explain why it is credible, but she also mentions why she was compelled to read it.
Although Olivia was reviewing an article that talked about humans possibly inhabiting other places in our solar system, she never discussed in great detail why these places are fit for us to live. She could have summarized what humans need to live and why these planets are possible places for humans in just several sentences in her first paragraph. Also, it would have been nice if she included the distance from here to these moons considering the article mentions “Nearby” in the title and some of her readers may not know where these places are located in relation to Earth. Even if Olivia was unclear on how people were actually going to reach Jupiter and these moons because it wasn’t addressed in the article, she could have addressed that question in her critique. Lastly, I think her summary would have been more impactful if Olivia had included some definitions for some of the words. In her first paragraph, she mentions words such as “water plumes” and “hydrothermal activity” and these are crucial words that should be explained and put into simpler terms so that everyone reading this review knows what she is trying to say.
I chose to read Olvias review because I have been doing lots of research on the environment and the scary thing is that we actually might need to find a new place to live because in the future the Earth might be destroyed. Overall, I think Olivia did an excellent job summarizing her main points and with a little tweaking this review could be perfect. This is such a new topic and there are so many unanswered questions, yet I am excited to see where it goes in the following years.
Alex Doukas
ReplyDeleteBio Current event comment
October 22, 2018
Mr. Ippolito
Strickland, Ashley. "NASA: Nearby Ocean Worlds Could Be Best Bet for Life beyond
Earth."CNN. Cable News Network, 14 Apr. 2017. Web. 25 May 2017.
I read Olivia's Doyle Post about the article “NASA: Nearby ocean worlds could be best bet for life beyond Earth” written by Ashley Strickland. This article depicts the new discoveries that NASA has found about Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus and the possibility of both being an idea for life beyond Earth. I think that Olivia carefully described the article in great depth and explained her point of view of the topic and her opinion about the article. Olivia stated, “Through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft, researchers have found hydrogen molecules in water plumes on Enceladus, which could indicate the presence of hydrothermal activity inside its body, which could be a sign that there is life on this moon. Other evidence collected by the Hubble Space Telescope indicates that there was a water plume erupting on the surface of Europa.” This is a great idea because it explains what NASA has found and what they are doing moving forward to make new discoveries. She Included quotes as well for the reader to have a better understanding of the topic and what other scientists think of the newly discovered ideas.
I think overall Olivia did a great job explaining the article and bringing in other opinions and describing her opinion as well. I think that she could have deepened her research about what the next steps will be towards completing their understanding of the topic and what will potentially happen next for scientists. She also could have incorporated more opinions of the topic which could make the reader have a better understanding of the topic overall.
This article and review gave me a better understanding of the new discoveries NASA made at that time. I never really think about what's going on outside my personal life other than watching the news which i rarely do, but learning about all of these new things about the world, it makes me think that there is so much going on that many people do not notice.