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Science A-54 – Life as a Planetary Phenomenon (Spring 2006)
Instructors: Andrew Knoll & Dimitar Sasselov
Course Summary
This course addresses life as a planetary phenomenon, born of and sustained by physical
processes, and emerging through time as major influence on our planet’s surface.
Fundamental features of terrestrial life and evolution are addressed in the context of
planetary physics and chemistry. These, in turn, provide a basis for consideration of
continuing exploration, both within our solar system and in the grater universe.
Course Goals
This course aims to equip you with both the conceptual understanding and the
quantitative reasoning to think critically. The goals of the course are to impart both
fundamental knowledge of planets and life and to ask how scientists can integrate the two
in space exploration. Students will be expected to learn basic principles of physics and
chemistry that underpin the structure of our solar system and others, and they will be
expected to learn basic principles of biology, including how cells work, how
complementary metabolic processes cycle materials through ecosystems, and how
evolution has changed Earth’s biological inventory over the past four billion years. As
well, students will be challenged to think about future space exploration.
Contact Information
Andrew Knoll
Botanical Museum 50
5-9306
[email protected]
Dimitar Sasselov
College Observatory
60 Garden Street, Rm. P-336, ph: 5-7451
[email protected]
Melissa Much, Head TF
(617)921-6383
[email protected]
Robin Kodner, TF
Botanical Museum 51, ph: 5-7602
[email protected]
Xavier Koenig, TF
College Observatory
60 Garden Street, Rm. P-301, ph: 5-4152
[email protected]
Course Structure
The Origin and Evolution of Planets - February 2 to February 16.
Origins of the elements – from the Early Universe to the stellar cauldrons. How do stars
and planets form; the origin of Earth and the Moon – when and how they formed. What
could we learn about planets forming around other stars. Understanding planetary orbits.
The geological history of Earth.
The Origin and Evolution of Life
- February 21 to March 16.
What is life? Origin of life experiments – the approach from prebiotic chemistry versus
the approach from molecular biology. Life’s signature in ancient rocks – reading the
record (fossils, geochemistry). The Tree of Life. Microbes; cyanobacteria – heroes of the
oxygen revolution on the young Earth.
Exploring the Solar System for Life
- March 21 to April 6.
The habitable zone in our Solar System and life habitats beyond it; life on Europa and
extremophile microbes. Life on Mars? – Mars as a planet today and in the past. Being a
geologist on Mars – the Mars rover missions. Searching for life on Mars.
Searching for Life beyond the Solar System
- April 11 to April 20.
Potential habitats in the Universe. How can we search for planets orbiting other stars –
tools: understanding telescopes, optics, and radiation. The methods of discovery and the
zoo of unusual planets they have uncovered so far. The challenges that we face in our
attempt to discover an analog of planet Earth. Remote sensing – detecting biospheres
from a distance – what should we look for?
Extraterrestrial Intelligence
- April 25 to May 4.
The path to intelligence – the eukaryotic cell; genetic blueprints for development; the
environment – cosmic dangers. Are we alone? Searches and lessons from home. Should
we reply?
Active Learning: Reading Assignments and Lecture Style
The purpose of this course is to develop your ability to use scientific arguments to think
critically about some of the deepest questions about the physical universe. We take our
teaching duties very seriously, and we will work hard to help you succeed.
We will be using a variety of active learning techniques, which have been demonstrated
to be a much more effective teaching method for introductory science than traditional
lecturing methods. This process works as follows:
1. Your first introduction to the material is through the assigned readings from the
textbooks. Readings will be assigned once a week. The night before the Thursday
lecture, you will complete a brief online questionnaire. The purpose of the
questionnaire is to verify that you have finished the reading and, more importantly, to
provide you with an opportunity to indicate to the course staff areas of confusion or
of special interest that you would like to see addressed in lecture.
2. During lecture, we will review the material with an emphasis on areas that you
have indicated were the most challenging or interesting. During the course of a
lecture, we will consider several short questions designed to evaluate conceptual
understanding.
Lectures meet Tuesday and Thursday, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm, in Science Center E, and will
begin promptly at 11:35 am.
Textbooks
There are three required texts:
1. A.H. Knoll, Life on a Young Planet, Princeton, 2003
2. B.W. Jones, Life in the Solar System and Beyond, Springer, 2004.
3. N.F. Comins, Exploring the Essential Universe, Freeman, 2004.
Course Website
http://courses.fas.harvard.edu/~scia54
Sections
Sections are an essential part of this course, as some course material will be covered
exclusively in section. Sectioning will be completed by paper. We will do sectioning in
class on February 9th. Sections will commence the week of February 14th.
Homework Assignments
There will be 5 homework assignments, with an assignment due approximately every two
weeks. We will collect homework at the start of lecture on the due date. Late homework
assignments will not be accepted. We will drop the lowest score of the 5 assignments.
There will be also a term project paper assignment due towards the end of the course.
Policy on Collaboration
We encourage you to collaborate in class, in section, and on the homework assignments.
Because the course is graded on an absolute scale, you won't reduce your grade by
helping others. Your fellow classmates are an important resource to help you understand
the course material and complete the homework. Please bear in mind that the best
strategy is to first attempt to complete the assignment on your own, before consulting
with your fellow students. If you collaborate on a homework assignment, you must (1)
state the names of the students with whom you collaborated, and (2) submit your own
individual, original solutions, which you write without consulting someone else's
solutions. Work that closely matches that of another student, or for which you don't state
the names of your collaborators, is unacceptable and will receive a grade of 0.
It is very important that you do not collaborate with each other on the online reading
assignments, or on midterms or final examinations.
Examinations
We will hold one midterm during regularly scheduled class period on March 14th. All
students are expected to take this exam. We will make alternate arrangements only in
exceptional circumstances, and such arrangements must be made prior to the exam date.
The date of the final 3-hour exam is determined by the Registrar's Office and will be
announced later in the semester. This course is a member of Exam Groups 13, 14 and the
final is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 18th or Tuesday, May 23rd. The
Administrative Board of Harvard College has sole jurisdiction over granting
makeup examinations.
Video
If you miss a lecture, you can view a recording as streaming video from the course
website. Please note that these are not intended to substitute for regular lecture
attendance, since the lectures require your active participation.
Pass/Fail and Enrollment Deadlines
You may not take this course Pass/Fail, nor may you enroll after February 20th. Please
do not simultaneously enroll in this course and one that meets at the same time!
Grading
Term Project Paper
20%
The Term Project will be on Planning a Space Mission. Pose a question, articulate the research
that needs to be done, and propose a space mission to answer the question you posed. What can
you do if you have a limited cargo size? We expect you to write a 10-12 pages long paper. You
can work in a team of up to 3 students. Due date is May 12th at 4 PM.
Section Participation & Reading Assignments
20%
Section participation will be based on your attendance and the degree to which you participate in
section discussions and assist your classmates in understanding the material.
Reading assignments will generally be due the night before the Thursday lecture. Your reading
assignment answers will be graded on a 2-point scale, where 2 demonstrates that you have read
the material, 1 indicates room for improvement, and 0 is unsatisfactory or incomplete. Late
reading assignments will not be accepted.
Homework Assignments
20%
There will be 5 homework assignments, with an assignment due approximately every two weeks.
We will collect homework at the start of lecture on the due date. Late homework assignments will
not be accepted. We will drop the lowest score of the 5 assignments.
Midterm Exam
20%
The midterm exam will be designed as a 60-minute exam, but students will have the entire class
period to complete it. It will be held in class on Tuesday, March 14th. All students are expected
to take this exam. We will make alternate arrangements only in exceptional circumstances, and
such arrangements must be made prior to the exam date.
Final Exam
20%
The date of the final 3-hour exam is determined by the Registrar's Office and will be announced
later in the semester. This course is a member of Exam Groups 13, 14 and the final is tentatively
scheduled for May 18th or May 23rd. The Administrative Board of Harvard College has sole
jurisdiction over granting makeup examinations.
The course will be graded on an absolute scale, with the following letter grade assignments:
> 90%: A-, A 81-90%: B-, B, B+
71-80%: C-, C, C+
61-70%: D-, D, D+
< 61%: E