9th March 2004: "Life and living on other planets"

Could we survive on another planet?

We know that the Earth's resources are not unlimited - and even if they were, the Earth itself has a finite lifetime (even though this is marked in billions of years, rather than thousands). Could we survive on another planet, say Mars, if Earth became uninhabitable?

What would we need to do to a planet with no breathable atmosphere or running water, for humanity to survive? Do we have the right to terraform one of our neighbours, which might have its own ecology that we do not yet understand?

Dr. Monica Grady is curator of the Meteorite Collection at the Natural History Museum in London, a member of the UK Astrobiology Panel and was involved with the Beagle 2 project to Mars. She was this year's Royal Institution Christmas Lecturer.

Come along and join us at 7pm in Blackwells Main Bookshop, Broad Street, Oxford.
No ticket, no booking, no scientific background required.