{"id":1130,"date":"2015-12-07T12:08:56","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T12:08:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lousodrome.net\/blog\/light\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2015-12-07T12:08:56","modified_gmt":"2015-12-07T12:08:56","slug":"christopher-mckay-life-beyond-the-earth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lousodrome.net\/blog\/light\/2015\/12\/07\/christopher-mckay-life-beyond-the-earth\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher McKay – Life beyond the Earth"},"content":{"rendered":"

So that’s my job in a sense: search other worlds for alien life.<\/p>\n

So when I’m on a long plane flight, like coming over here, and the guy sitting next to me says: “So what do you do?”. Chatty fellow. I say: “Well I search other worlds for alien life.”. And then, he leaves me alone for the rest of the flight, I can get some sleep. It’s a great job description, I like it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This excerpt is part of the introduction of the following lecture by NASA scientist Dr. <\/a>Christopher McKay<\/a>, on the search of life beyond Earth. He talks about Mars exploration<\/a>, a potential mission to Enceladus<\/a>, the challenges of field research<\/a> in such environment, how to detect life (without accidentally destroying it in the attempt<\/a>), how to avoid contamination and what would be some practical consequences to finding life. It’s a great insight into the current state of the field, delivered with an entertaining tone.
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