The Kavli Foundation will be hosting a live webcast and Google Hangout Wednesday at 12 noon PST (3 p.m. EST) called "Spotlight Live: Microbes and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life."
Within the next decade, NASA and other space exploration programs will be launching rockets to Mars and to Saturn's icy moon Enceladus. Until then, scientists need to figure out what type of life they are looking for and how to detect alien life forms, according to the press release.
"Extremophiles" survive in hostile environments on Earth. By studying these microorganisms, scientists hope to detect life in other seemingly uninhabitable places.
Your questions will be answered by two scientists:
"Jocelyne DiRuggiero, PhD is Associate Research Professor in the Department of Biology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and a member of the University's Institute for Planets and Life. She studies how microorganisms adapt to extreme environments and what that can teach us about searching for life on other planets.
"Christopher McKay, PhD is a senior scientist in the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA Ames Research Center who studies life in Mars-like environments on Earth and plans missions to search for evidence of it."
Your questions can be submitted via email to info@kavlifoundation.org before the broadcast or by using the hashtag #KavliLive on Twitter or Google+.
