If there is some form of life elsewhere in the universe,
how will we recognize it? How will we find it? Astrobiologist
Dr. Pamela Conrad of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., will discuss these topics in a pair of free
lectures titled “Extraterrestrial Life: Imagining Colors
You’ve Never Seen.”
As part of a monthly JPL lecture series, the first
lecture on this topic will be held at JPL on Thursday,
September 20, and the second at Pasadena City College on
Friday, September 21. Both lectures are open to the public and
will start at 7 p.m. The JPL lecture will be webcast live.
Information on the webcast will be available at
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/sep01.html.
Although Hollywood seems to have a fixed idea of what
extraterrestrial life might be like, scientists at the JPL
Center for Life Detection have been studying this topic, in
earnest, for several years. They have some ideas about what
universal features of life might enable us to recognize it
elsewhere, even if it’s in a completely unexpected form.
Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The
lecture at JPL will be held in von Karman Auditorium, 4800 Oak
Grove Dr., off the Oak Grove Drive exit of the 210 (Foothill)
Freeway. For directions, see
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/about_JPL/directions.html .
On Friday, the lecture will be held in Pasadena City
College’s Forum at 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. Additional
information on this lecture and other von Karman lectures is
available at http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures.html, or
from JPL’s Public Services Office at (818) 354-0112.
JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena.
