1. As many of you heard, or saw the movie, the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was thought to be the result of an asteroid impact. Since so many people are saying this it must be true. So, a) find out and report on how secure you think the evidence is that indeed an asteroid did strike the Earth and b) if this impact occurred how, in fact, did it cause a mass-extinction. In other words, what was the mechanism that extincted both ends of the food chain (e.g. the dinosaurs became extinct but so did most forms of ocean plankton). Something more than just blocking out the sun with some dirt thrown into the atmosphere by the impact must have occurred.
   
   
2. a) In the class material we make use of the Drake equation as providing a statistical estimate of the number of civilizations that might currently exist in our Galaxy and are capable of communication. Recently, however, some scientists have argued that the Drake equation is an inaccurate description. This new theory is known as the "Rare Earth Theory" (by Ward and Brownless). Do some research on this new theory and identify what the key components of this theory are that suggests planets like the Earth are much rarer than we think they are.
   
   b) In light of the results from the Kepler mission and beyond, discuss the discovery of new "earth-like" planets and argue whether or not these discoveries are still consistent with the Rare Earth Theory
   
   
3. Provide a set of arguments for why it is more likely that Life on the Earth originated in the deep ocean thermal vent environment compared to surface ocean processes.
   
   
4. The evolution of prokaryotes to eukaryotes remains uncertain as does the earliest time at which eukaryotes start to appear in the oceans. The text discusses the proces of endosymbiosis as the most like one that started this evolution but this still largely remains a guess. Research and report on alternative theories to endosymbiosis to account for appearance of eukaryotic cells and also research the lastest findings on when they first start appearing.
   
   
5. Well, it finally happened. You were engaged in your usual habit of spending 80 hours per week refining your Facebook pages and generally inflating your accomplishments and interests while trying to figure out exactly how to tag your latest image. While you were sitting in front of your screen, you suddently received a Notification that said:
   Warning, Warning, Warning - the world will end in about 60 minutes; The only thing that will survive as a record of humanity will be your Facebook page. Furthermore, in the interest of brevity, only the top 1/2 of your facebook page will be archived in order to avoid the impression that humanity is incredibly redundant.

   Message signed:

   The Vogon Construction Fleet

   Well, just in the oft chance that the Vogon Construction Fleet is real (Google them to find out), you need to make your contribution.

   So, given that you are restricted to 1/2 a facebook page, what set of words or images or music would you choose to represent humanity and our collective presence on planet Earth. Be Creative. This question is designed to get you to think about the collective behavior of humanity on this planet and how you would represent that.
   
   Submit an Image of that "pretend" facebook page and submit that for your question response. If you're not on facebook just use some other method of creating an image