Finding Life Beyond Earth

Gr 9 Up—The search for life outside of the Earth's atmosphere is explored in this excellent documentary. More than a dozen researchers and astrobiologists are interviewed to explain the recent data extracted from new telescopic evidence and space probe missions. Strong visual imagery, clear charts and graphs, and amazingly lifelike animations support this expert testimony. Viewers are presented with worlds full of potential life-worlds of ice and salty oceans, of billowing volcanoes and asteroids teeming with the building blocks of life found on Earth. These findings are shifting conventional notions of how life was brought to our planet's surface, where life can exist in our solar system, and how these forms of life can develop in our neighboring planets. Part 1 clarifies the atmospheric conditions, energy sources, and chemical building blocks needed for life, while Part 2 attempts to make the case that the factors which led to life on Earth are not entirely unique to our planet. This informative production concisely illustrates many complex concepts in an accessible way that allows for rich follow-up discussions. A first-purchase for high school and community college science collections.—Vincent M. Livoti, University of Maine at Augusta