Reviewed by David Tumbarello
Middle School Teacher
"The laws of nature are universal" says Professor Brian Cox, host of the BBC science series Wonders of the Solar System. In this video Professor Cox takes the viewer on a journey to the harshest conditions on Earth. Discoveries here can shed light on possible life outside our planet.
To support this argument, Cox takes us 2 km below sea level to spy on tube worms that thrive at pressures well over 100 atmospheres, into caves in Mexico that have never seen sunlight to observe snottites that breathe a sulfur compound to survive, and even into a block of frozen ice from Iceland that until recently was thought to be dormant. With the help of actual and CGI footage from spacecraft that have landed on neighboring planets and satellites, he explains how evidence can be used to infer life exists elsewhere in our Solar System. After all, some scientists now believe more life exists below the surface of the Earth than above it, so why couldn't the same be true of Mars or Saturn’s moons Io and Europa?
This video is part of a BBC series hosted by Professor Cox and because of its timely and engaging format would be enjoyed by middle and high school science students.
Review posted on 4/18/2012
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