Date and Time
Course Description
Register via our Google Form*
- $30 For General Public
- $25 For teachers, Friends of UCMP
- $15 for students
Schedule
8:30-9:00
Speakers and registrants check-in at the International House
9:00 - 9:10
Welcome message with Lisa White and mapping out the day with Charles Marshall, UCMP
9:10 - 10:00
Astrophysical Alchemy: How the Universe Makes the Elements
10:10 - 11:00
How Planets Form (Some Assembly---and Disassembly---Required)
For centuries we have known that Earth is one of several worlds orbiting the Sun. Near the turn of the 21st century we discovered that our solar system is one of countless others. How did these planets come to be, and what are their prospects for harboring life? We will review the methods by which exoplanets are detected and characterized, and the physical processes by which microscopic grains of dust and ice assemble into habitable worlds.
11:10 - 12:00
The geological record of plate tectonics
Francis Macdonald, UC Berkeley
Plate tectonics is the first order driver of element cycles that are crucial to life today, including carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, and sulfur. It also has been responsible for the differentiation of the crust that defines the boundaries between the continents and the oceans. Additionally, plate tectonics controls the long-term climate and hydrological cycles. Despite the central role of plate tectonics for habitability of life on Earth, the timing of its origin is hotly debated. This short course will be a brief overview of the geological record of plate tectonics on Earth. We will focus on new constraints on the earliest evidence for plate motion, the growth of continents, and how the style of plate tectonics may have changed through time.
12:15-1:15
Lunch (on your own)
1:20-2:10
The source of the Earth’s water (and other important things humans seem to like)
As far as we know, Earth is a unique planet in many ways. If we were looking at Earth from a great distance, like we now view other planetary systems, the most obvious differences would be that Earth’s moon is huge compared to most other moons and, lucky for us, Earth has liquid water—and life—smeared all over its surface. But why is Earth so different, even from its nearest neighbors? When discussing the origin of anything, particularly life, people often stray into philosophy and religion, but scientists can attack these big questions from a different perspective—focusing on the ingredients for life that allowed critters to take hold and flourish. In this talk, I will discuss some of the possibilities and leading theories about how Earth acquired the all-important ingredients of water and complex organic compounds that we think are required to create and sustain life.
2:20-3:10
The planetary basis of the origin of life on Earth
In today’s Short Course we have seen how elements crucial to life today, including carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, to iron and nickel, formed over an extended periods of time via a range of different processes. We have also seen how gravity and heat from the sun combined to drive the formation of inner rocky and outer gaseous planets, how the Earth’s surface is dynamic turmoil driven by the heat within, and how water, crucial to life as we know it, was likely transported from the outer solar system to form our oceans. Against this backdrop, I outline what seems to me to be the first plausible explanation for the origin of life on Earth, where the interaction between hot rock and sea water and the creation of oceanic hydrothermal vents riddled with interconnected cell-sized pores led to first life. While a great many open questions remain, and not all agree, the scenario gains surprising support from its ability to make sense of idiosyncrasies seen in life today, some 4 billion years after it first arose.
3:10-3:30
Open questions
3:30-4:00
Wrap up
About the Speakers:
Erika Holmbeck, LLNL
Erika Holmbeck is a staff scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who uses the Universe as an “astrophysical laboratory” to study how the heaviest elements form. She focuses on the reactions between exotic nuclei and studies how astronomical observations can shed light on nuclear physics.
Eugene Chiang, UC Berkeley
Eugene Chiang is a professor of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. He works in theoretical astrophysics and has interests in all things planetary, from planet formation to orbital dynamics to atmospheres.
Francis Macdonald, UC Berkeley
Francis Macdonald is a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. His research focuses on the interactions of tectonics, climate, and biological evolution through Earth history. Recent projects have focused on Snowball Earth, the Great Unconformity, and the impact of tropical mountains on global climate.
Greg Brennecka, LLNL
Greg Brennecka is a researcher at Lawrence Livermore National Lab and uses chemical and isotopic signatures of meteorites and asteroids to unravel the history of the Solar System. He is the author of the popular science book Impact: How Rocks from Space led to life, culture, and Donkey Kong.
Charles Marshall, UC Berkeley
Charles Marshall is the Director of UCMP, professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, and Chair of the Berkeley Natural History Museums at UC Berkeley. He is broadly interested in how life has evolved on Earth, and understanding the processes responsible for shaping life’s long-term evolution.