ACADEMIC TALK
Watch the lecture by Dr Ken Amor below and don’t forget to take a look at the extra resources and have a go at the activity at the end.
Is there Life on Mars?
Dr Ken Amor
Is there life on Mars? Although we haven’t yet found any conclusive evidence of alien life, some of Mars’ features suggest that something could have sustained itself there a very long time ago. The existence of extremophiles on planet earth also shows that our assumptions about the basic conditions needed to maintain life don’t always apply!
Further Reading
You can learn more about Mars by listening to this podcast, and if you’d like to explore the Mars Perseverance Rover, click here.
Click here to learn more about the conditions on different planets.
If you’d like to know more about extremophiles, click here. If you want to challenge yourself, look at this and this academic article on extremophiles.
Using the resources that we have provided alongside your own research, create a fact file about an extremophile of your choice.
What environments does it thrive in?
What features does it have to make it able to
thrive in those environments?
Include a theory on which planet or moon could
hypothetically best house your chosen extremophile, taking in account factor such as temperature, pressure and water presence.
