NEW!
The distribution of scores on the term paper
is now available.
(10 Dec 2009)
NEW!
Snow updates: I feel really bad for those of you who missed
your exams on Monday or Tuesday.
The "deal" offered (make up, or keep your grade) seems
like kind of a raw deal to me. Anyway, obviously there is no
school or exams on Tuesday, so my office hours are kind of
shot. Here's what I propose: You can email me the questions
that you were going to bring to office hours today.
I will post the questions and my answers on this
web page (look here for the link). I'll try to answer any
question that I receive before noon on Wednesday.
Cross your fingers and hope that our exam on Thursday isn't
canceled!
(8 Dec 2009)
NEW!
Instructions for the final exam are now
posted. The final is 12:30 - 2:30 pm on Thursday, December 10.
(1 Dec 2009)
NEW!
The course evaluation for this course
is now
available. Please do this! It helps me
a lot, it helps your future fellow students,
and it is a great way for you to give feedback that
is totally, 100% anonymous.
(17 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Nifty headline that
caught my eye.
(2 Dec 2009)
NEW!
Shooting lasers at the moon:
here,
here,
here, and
here.
(1 Dec 2009)
NEW!
Homework 4 distribution of scores and solution set
now
available. The distribution of scores in the course
so far is also now available.
(1 Dec 2009)
NEW!
Is NASA considering a
manned mission to a Near Earth Asteroid?
(24 Nov 2009)
NEW!
The LHC goes bang.
(24 Nov 2009)
NEW!
More Darwin.
(24 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Several people have asked me this: you may certainly
turn in your term papers early, either to me; under
my office door; or in my mailbox in room 209 (next
door to my office).
(22 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Darwin where you
least expect it.
(22 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Remember, you have a homework
and a term paper
to be working on.
(12 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Oddball crocs. (19 Nov 2009)
NEW!
I've made a few corrections for Homework #4 --
click on sage advice.
If you have already done the homework
pre-corrections, don't worry about updating your work --
I'll take it as is.
(17 Nov 2009)
NEW!
A movie
review, sort of. (17 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Last Saturday we
got lucky.
(17 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Some of you probably think this happened
to me.
(16 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Dinosaurs and evolution. (13 Nov 2009)
NEW!
LCROSS: Water on the moon!
(13 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Upcoming office hours (UPDATED 13 NOV 2009):
NEW!
Midterm solution set
is now posted.
(12 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Distribution of scores in the course
so far.
(10 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Coming soon: A solar sail. (10 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Reminder: There is class on Thursday,
November 5. Professor Nadine Barlow will give
a guest lecture on Mars.
(4 Nov 2009)
NEW!
No office hours this week -- I'll be out of
town.
(3 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Homework #4 is now
posted.
(3 Nov 2009)
NEW!
I think I've emailed everyone who turned in a term
paper proposal with an email address on it. The rest
of you (who didn't follow directions) will have to wait
until class tomorrow.
Frequent comments: (1) make sure the connection to
astrobiology is clearly made and cleary stated;
(2) make sure you are writing a science paper, with
scientific evidence, and not a science fiction or philosophy
paper or entertainment review;
(3) make sure you go beyond the material that we have
covered/will cover in class.
(2 Nov 2009)
NEW!
Inspirational
music video and an
interesting NY Times article.
(3 Nov 2009)
NEW
Midterm distribution of scores here.
(29 Oct 2009)
NEW!
There will be class on Tuesday, Oct 27. It will not
be a guest lecture -- it'll be me.
(26 Oct 2009)
NEW!
I'm sorry, but I will not have your midterms
graded by Tuesday's class. I expect to have them
done before Thursday. I hope you had a good weekend
off -- see you Tuesday.
(26 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Your term paper assignment is now
available.
Remember that your term paper proposal is due by
Thursday, October 29.
(1 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Solution set for homework #3
is now posted.
(21 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Some notes about
the coming midterm
are now posted.
(15 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Thirty two (!!)
new extrasolar planets found.
(20 Oct 2009)
NEW!
The distribution of scores in the course so far
(CSF)
is here.
Come talk to me about your score if you like.
(19 Oct 2009)
NEW!
The distribution of scores for Homework #3
is now posted.
(19 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Fun science/science fiction
article in the New York Times.
(15 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Homework #2 distribution
of scores is now available (see also the
note about
grading), as is the
course so far distribution of
scores.
Homework #2 solutions are now
posted too.
(13 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Homework #3 is now
posted. Sorry for the delay. I shortened the assignment
because I was late in posting it. No, Rosie, I'm not on
vacation -- I'm at a conference. Back in Flagstaff this
weekend -- see you next week.
(8 Oct 2009)
NEW!
An essay from the New York Times.
(1 Oct 2009)
NEW!
Guess what? No class next week! But you'll have plenty
to work on, don't worry.
(29 Sept 2009)
NEW!
I'm sure you all know this: You shouldn't come to office
hours until you have really thought hard about what you're
working on. You should not be looking at a problem for
the first time in my office. (29 Sept 2009)
NEW!
No office hours on Wednesday, Sept 30. I am giving
a Flagstaff Festival of Sciencepublic talk at
Lowell Observatory at 4 pm on Wednesday, so I'll
be gone all afternoon. If you want to make an
appointment to meet with me at a different time,
that'd be fine.
(29 Sept 2009)
NEW!
More about
water on M
ars. This is a big deal!
(29 Sept 2009)
NEW!
The Flagstaff Festival of Science
kicks off this weekend, with lots of cool stuff (at the hospital, at theobservatory, at the national parks, and much more!).
(25 Sept 2009)
NEW!
More water discovered on Mars. Take that, Moon! (25 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Where to look for the water in the Solar System?
The moon! (24 Sept 2009)
NEW!
The distribution of scores on homework #1 and the solutionset for homework #1 are now both
available. Don't panic -- the scores are mostly fine. I'll
talk about this in class today. (22 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Climate change in The Onion.
(22 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Where is the
coldest place in the Solar System?
(22 Sept 2009)
NEW
T Rex, in miniature. (22 Sept 2009)
NEW!
From the Bronx to Saturn's rings.
(22 Sept 2009)
NEW!
The search for life, from a different
perspective. (22 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Discovery of a rocky Earth-like planet
(see also here and lots of other
places).
(17 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Cheerful thoughts
to start your day.
(17 Sept 2009)
NEW!
For homework question #5, instead of an article from
the news, you can instead write a brief review (1-2 paragraphs)
of Harris' talk. I don't want just a summary -- I want
your reaction to what he says. Do you agree with his
perspectives? Why or why not?
(14 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Class ends at 2:55 p.m. on Tuesday so that we all can go
hear
William Harris, who is president and CEO of Science Foundation Arizona,
talk about the importance of investing in science at all levels of education.
I will have (brief) office hours from 4:30 - 5:00 pm on Tuesday, and of
course on Wednesday afternoon as well.
(14 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Where
are your meteorites? (14 Sept 2009)
NEW!
I just learned about
this
meteorite fall.
(14 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Neat story about
giant rats
that nobody knew about. (10 Sept 2009)
NEW!
More space
station happenings.
(10 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Here's a
reassuring
headline.
(10 Sept 2009)
NEW!
The Hubble Space
Telescope is back with a bang. (Another article).
(10 Sept 2009)
NEW!
A mismatch between ideas and reality in NASA's
plan to send people back to the moon. (9 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Homework #1 (due 17 Sept)
is now posted.
(8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
As of Thursday morning, there are two spots
open in the
lab course
(AST 184L). If you are interested, check out the syllabus and
especially the course schedule, and consider signing up!
This is the last time I'll mention this; the first field trip
is this weekend.
(1 Sept 2009, updated 10 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Office hours are only 2-3 pm today (Wednesday,
Sept 9) -- sorry for the inconvenience.
(9 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Too bad about that fire alarm today -- we were just
getting to the good part. Oh well -- we'll pick up
where we left off on Thursday.
(8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
You guys probably
think I'm obsessed.
(8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
At 9am this morning
President
Obama spoke to K-12 students (and some people gave him a hard
time for it?). (8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
The International Space Station
will
be visible tonight at 7:45 pm.
(8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
An article on the
evolution
of flowers.
(8 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Wha are we learning about
climate change? From NAU, no less!
(3 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Here's an
article
that Josh found.
(3 Sept 2009)
NEW!
A neat
picture. (3 Sept 2009)
NEW!
On Sept. 3, 1976, the unmanned U.S. spacecraft Viking 2
landed on Mars to take the first close-up, color photog
raphs of the planet's surface.
(3 Sept 2009)
NEW! One of the students in this class has
been tentatively diagnosed with Swine Flu. Don't
worry, she's not coming to class today. But still:
don't you want to grab a squirt of Purell?
(1 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Lawrence Krauss (ASU) says
why -- or
how -- to go to Mars.
(1 Sept 2009)
NEW!
A
doomed
planet, a good story about
coastal islands
and science, and a colored fossil
47 million
years old. (1 Sept 2009)
NEW!
Mass extinctions, evolution, diversity, ecological niches: We'll talk
about all of these things this semester.
(27 Aug 2009)
NEW!
In search of a
living fossil. (25 Aug 2009)
NEW!
What's in a comet and why do we care?
(21 Aug 2009)
Last modified: 3 September 2009
