Habitability

Journey to alien worlds here on Earth

Discover the fascinating life that thrives in places humans can’t survive, from the Atacama desert in Chile to Lake Vostok under the ice of Antarctica.

On this three-week course, Dr Louisa Preston will guide you through what these environments have in common with other planets, how life can survive various harsh conditions, and whether that means we could see life on other planets too.

If Earth can sustain life, then why can’t other planets? Or can they?

Habitability all depends on who or what needs to inhabit, and just one small change to an environment can remove any prospect of maintaining life.

You’ll start here on Earth by examining how our planet has managed to maintain its habitability while other planets have not.

Then you’ll take a trip into outer space to classify different galaxies in the Universe and discuss the circumstellar habitable zone (CHZ), the zone around a star where liquid water can be stable on the surface, and thus maintain life.

Explore the wonders of life on Earth

The Earth is made up of a myriad of systems, all perfectly balanced to support life. From its atmosphere to its plate tectonics and even the moon being just the right size and distance, each of Earth’s systems works together to help life thrive.

This course will guide you through these systems, how they work together, and their roles in sustaining life on Earth.

Goldilocks and the water bears

The Earth can be a strange place, with even stranger creatures. They may not be extraterrestrial, but some organisms can appear extremely alien.

You’ll finish this course by meeting the extremophiles: organisms that live in seemingly inhospitable environments. You’ll even focus on the famous tardigrade (aka the water bear) which can survive multiple extremes and are all-but-indestructible.

This course is designed for anyone interested in the fundamentals of astrobiology, particularly habitats and habitability on Earth and on other planets.

It will be especially useful to university applicants looking to identify areas that they’d like to specialise in and STEM teachers looking to bring science to life for their students.

• Habitable vs Habitability
• Welcome to the course
• What do we mean by habitability?
• Galactic habitable zones
• Maintaining habitability for life
• Weekly wrap-up
• What makes Earth so special?
• Welcome to Week 2
• The greenhouse effect
• Plate tectonics
• The Moon
• Weekly wrap-up
• Alien worlds on Earth
• Welcome to Week 3
• Uninhabited habitats
• Extremophiles
• Planetary analogues
• Course wrap-up