Astrobiology World First for CASE

Press release: 22 September 2005

　

CASE and the University of Glamorgan will launch the UK’s first undergraduate BSc in Astrobiology next week.

　

Astrobiology, the search for life beyond the Earth, is a major driving force behind current space programmes, as the recent excitement over the possibility of finding organic life on Titan shows.

　

Modules on the new course will include: Exploring the Sky , Verterbrate Zoology, Science and the Media , and Life in the Universe.

　

Professor Mark Brake who will be leading the course said, “Workers in the field of astrobiology require knowledge of physical and biological science, both of which are undergoing revolutionary developments, as astronomers search deep space for Earth-like extra-solar planets and biologists continue to unravel the human genome Additionally, the high public profile of this research means that astrobiologists must possess excellent communication skills.”

　

Professor Brake is recognised as an expert in the field and will, this Saturday, present a lecture at the National Science Museum on the history of astrobiology.

　

The lecture, which will be attended by 400 guests, will be a precursor to the Science Museum’s imminent flagship exhibition The Science of Aliens.

　

Occupying the ground floor of the Science Museum, the exhibition will be split into Four Zones. The zones will each tackle some aspect of the question of extraterrestrial life: science fiction, evolution , the discovery of extrasolar planets , and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

　

Prof Brake, a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute science communication committee, has been a key consultant in the development of this exhibition including editorial direction on the exhibition’s spin-off titles.

　

　

University of Glamorgan

Astrobiology BSc (Hons)