Answered Questions

Could there be life on the moon Pandora?

Pandora is a very small icy moon of Saturn, about 100 km long, discovered by the Voyager spacecraft in 1980. See Wikipedia at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(moon)]. I can hardly think of a less likely place to look for life. Unfortunately, you may be thinking of the fictional location featured in the movie... More

Some scientists are saying that all ice on the artic ocean will be gone...could it happen so fast?....i thought that the water level would increase with 1 meter or 2 before 2100 but not faster -- is that fake or a hoax?....and i read that the movie "an inconvenient truth" is forbidden to be shown in schools because it contains many errors -- is that true?.

In the past two decades the Arctic ice has thinned and receded. One consequence is the opening of the Northwest Passage to ships for the first time in human history. Current predictions are that within another two decades the Arctic Sea may be ice-free at the end of summer. However,... More

I just wanted to know if the scientists could predict wrong of when the sun goes supernova. The reason why I ask this is because it says that in the movie The Knowing. And there's also a movie called 2012: Supernova which talks about that, and the regular movie 2012. Does this all tie together somehow?

I keep asking people to distinguish between fact and fiction. The three movies you mention are pure fiction, completely unconnected to scientific reality. There have been lots of science fiction films made, some good and some bad as entertainment, but few of them make any attempt to get the science... More

I know we have a corupt government, and I know nasa works closley with the government. If they told you to keep quiet about 2012 to keep panic down would you still tell the people the truth? As a concerned citizen I feel compelled to ask the question.

I am sorry you feel this way about your government and are willing, apparently, to think it is trying to deceive you. NASA is a part of the government (an Executive Agency). I strongly disagree with your statement that we have a corrupt government. You may not agree with some... More

You stated that "Most of the observed temperature variations up to beginning of the twentieth century can be traced to small changes in solar output, plus changes in the Earth’s orbit, plus short-term cooling associated with large volcanic eruptions..." I understand the other causes but haven't heard very much about the Earth's orbit changing. How is it changing and how has it affected our climate?

There are slow changes in the eccentricity of the orbit and the tilt of the Earth’s axis. These matter for the climate of the planet even though they do not change the total amount of sunlight reaching us, because it makes a difference where the sunlight falls (near the poles... More

You discussed life evolving about 4 billion years ago. What is it that keeps single-cells from following that same process today? In other words, since it happened 4 billion years ago, why not today? Or is it happening and we don't hear about it?

Conditions on Earth today are dramatically different from those when life began 4 billion years. The most obvious differences are (1) the ocean chemistry does not contain the abundant organic (carbon-based) compounds that we think were present then, and (2) the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere and oceans is... More

Was blue-green algae the first form of life on this earth?

We do not know what the first form of life was on Earth, but I am sure that whatever it was it is not still here. The process of evolution pretty well guarantees that more capable life forms will eventually replace the more primitive. I would not call any of... More

We know that life on earth was formed due to its favorable conditions and because of water, then why isn't there any life on moon even though it almost the same distant as earth and water was found on it?

The key requirement for life as we know it is liquid water. No liquid water has been found on the Moon, just frozen water (ice) and water in chemical combination with surface minerals. With no liquid water, the Moon does not to appear to meet the minimum requirements for life. More

Is global warming is real? Because my science teacher says its all fake.

I am sorry to say that your science teacher is wrong. Global warming is both real and threatening. As more and more data have been gathered, the world’s atmospheric and climate scientists have become convinced of this fact. The only reason I can imagine that your science teacher disputes this... More

What are the chances of our solar system being part of a binary system? i know if we had a sister sun we would probably see it, but what if it was a dark star or a burnt out sun thats just like a hot coal floating around out there, and if there is such a possibility whats the possibility of said sun to have planets circling it and if its possible for any of those planets to house life?

The chances are zero that the Sun is a binary star with an undiscovered stellar companion. There is no such thing as a dark star or a burnt-out star. A faint red dwarf companion might be difficult to see in visible light but it would be readily discovered by any... More

I have been watching a show called Conspiracy Theory hosted by Jesse Ventura, and he did a show on 2012. According to them, they say that Nasa is predicting that something will happen in 2012!

AND

Have u ever watched a show on true tv called conspiracy theory with jesse ventura,?he says nasa knows about a major solar storm that gonna hit us in 2012 and wipe out humanity, and u guys are helping cover it up, ? if this is true why isent anyone telling us? I think we deserve the facts now.

Jesse Ventura is no scientist, he is not associated with NASA, and the things you report he said are not true. My guess is that this sort of manipulation for profit will grow right up until the end of 2012. My concern is how many people are gullible enough to... More

On the History Channel there is a show on now call Apocalypse Island and it says explorer Jim Turner finds an artifact on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean that he believes is a clue about the Mayan apocalyptic predictions for 2012. Is this true?

AND

Is Jeff Turner smoking too much when it comes to his theory about the Mayan monument on Apocalypse Island?

The show Apocalypse Island is fiction. Fiction, by definition, is not true. Others have asked whether things in the movie 2012 or the fake website that supports the movie (The Institute for Human Continuity) are true, but these are fiction also. Other works of fiction that have fooled people are... More

You mention "As humans expanded across the planet, the majority of large animals went extinct. In North and South America this happened roughly 10,000 years ago, and all of the largest species were destroyed". At school I was taught that an ice age caused this mass extinction. Surely there were not enough humans alive then to cause such widespread destruction?

The last ice age was over by 10,000 years ago, so that did not cause to the large animal (megafauna) extinctions in the Americas. In fact, many large animals flourished during the ice ages and the interglacial periods that separated them. While no one can prove that humans hunted these... More

Lately there are quite some meteorite "near misses" and are we moving through a space where this can happen more frequently?

No, there has been no change in the number of Near Earth Asteroids coming close to the Earth. The only change is that astronomers are getting better at finding them. They were all there anyway but passed unnoticed.

David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist

I have heard that we are going to reach solar max soon and just wanted to know if it could really knock out some satelites or if this could effect the earth in any way?

Your information about a solar maximum is wrong: we are still in the depths of a very long solar minimum. There have been very few sunspots or other evidence of solar activity for the past three years, although currently there is a single more active sunspot called 1040. For... More

If a habitable planet(s) were detected within this year, how long would it take us to reach their solar systems with our current technology?

Your question is tricky, since I am not sure what you mean by “us” reaching their solar system. I do not expect to find any habitable planets within this year. The Kepler space telescope is likely to start finding Earth-size planets within the habitable zone of other stars in 2-3... More

How can you claim "Aliens" do not exist. Over 100's of years we have found (flying projectiles, ships, bodies, readings, and other intriguing step notes) into what could be aliens. Where is your proof that Aliens do not exist.

No astrobiologists say that aliens do not exist. We expect lots of planetary systems to be inhabited with some form of life. All we say is that we have found no convincing evidence of life anywhere beyond Earth. The other things you mention relating to intelligent aliens visiting Earth are... More

I recently watched a national geographic channel program about terraforming Mars that was based largely on the work of astrobiologist Chris McKay. But isn't it true that Mars is thought to have lost an atmosphere capable of sustaining life when it lost its magnetic field?

Mars lost its atmosphere primarily because it is small (low gravity). If we reintroduced a larger atmosphere (or if one resulted from the impact if a comet on Mars), that too would escape over many thousands of years. But the magnetic field (or its absence) has little to do with... More

Is astrobilogy able to answer whether life exists outside Earth?

Astrobiology is the science of life in the universe: its origin, evolution, distribution, and future. A core goal of astrobiology is to find evidence of life beyond Earth. However, we do not yet have the tools to find life hidden beneath a planet’s surface, as may be the case for... More

A statement of yours caught my eye: "As far as the safety of the Earth is concerned, the important threats are from global warming and loss of biological diversity." I sincerely hope that you are not referring to AGW. I mention this because AGW is a hoax that is far worse than a fictional planet Nibiru.

I don't understand how you or any intelligent person can call AGW (human caused global warming) a hoax. Maybe you aren't paying attention to the science. (1) There is no question that the Earth has been warming over the past 50 years at an unprecedented rate, as shown by temperature measurements in the atmosphere,... More