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Member of: Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection

Close Encounters of the First Kind: On Cultural Representations of Extraterrestrials, First Contact, & the Mythology of the Alien Other

Description

Western culture has oversimplified and mythologized the possibility of first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. Whether through anthropocentrism, lack of contextual literature and/or available knowledge, or simple misunderstanding, humanity has failed to fully consider the impacts of seeking out alien life. Instead, humanity’s cultural and political representations of extraterrestrials tell us a great deal about the people behind the stories—all of us stuck together on our pale blue dot. This thesis explores the mythological character that is ever-present in the extraterrestrial conversation, and how past and current cultural creators in the global West have perpetuated and changed that paradigm. This thesis is also an exploration of the ways we envision our ability to contact and interact with an unknown extraterrestrial other—in many ways mythological, and in some ways as powerful symbols for struggles against oppression. I argue for a more nuanced, creative, and scientifically driven representation and consideration of first contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.

ContributorsDean, Jake William (Author) / Martin, Thomas W. (Thesis director) / Walker, Sara (Committee member) / Finn, Ed (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor, Contributor, Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)

Created2020-12

A.L.I.E.N: Assembled Life Inside an Expanding Nature

Description

Assembly theory as a way of defining the biotic/abiotic boundary has been established for molecules, but not yet for crystal structures. This is an assembly algorithm that calculates the complexity of biotic and abiotic minerals in order to constrain the quantitative fundamentals of "life". The calculation utilizes the Hermann-Mauguin space group symmetry and Wyckoff sites of mineral unit cells to calculate the path-building complexity of a crystal structure. 5,644 minerals from the American Mineralogist COD database were run through the algorithm. The five structures with the highest information complexity were a mix of biotic and abiotic minerals, indicating that further calculations on larger datasets would be pertinent. Furthermore, an expansion of the definition of mineral to include biotically synthesized solids would further research efforts aimed at using minerals as possible biomarkers.

ContributorsSharma, Sonakshi (Author) / Walker, Sara (Thesis director) / Malloy, John (Committee member) / Bromley, Megan (Committee member) / Millsaps, Camerian (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)

Created2023-05

Investigating the Interior of Io: Constraining Scenarios of Its Internal Structure

Description

Jupiter’s moon Io is tidally locked with Jupiter and falls in a 4:2:1 orbital resonance with Europa and Ganymede, driving extreme tidal heating that makes it the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Io possesses a metallic core, as does its Galilean sibling Ganymede, yet, unlike Ganymede, Io lacks a magnetic field. Here, I investigated the potential size, composition, and cooling rate of Io’s core to help determine why Io lacks a strong dynamo. First, I used mineral physics equations to determine that the radius of the core should be between ~650 km to 950 km for a composition ranging from pure Fe to a eutectic Fe-FeS alloy. Cosmochemical constraints from meteoritic analogues yield complementary constraints on the abundance of sulfur in the metallic core (~2.67–28.6 wt%). The mantle could be either fully or partially molten. I found that the scenario of a global magma ocean creates temperatures at the base of the mantle that are possibly too hot for core convection, but that a magma sponge regime could create core-mantle boundary temperatures cooler than the melting point of pure Fe, which could promote core convection. Therefore, I conclude that Io lacks a strong dynamo likely because it has a magma ocean with temperatures too high for convection. However, the possibility that Io’s mantle is a magma sponge suggests the importance for future missions to investigate the state of Io’s magnetic field.

ContributorsLunetto, Sarah (Author) / O'Rourke, Joseph (Thesis director) / Walker, Sara (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Earth and Space Exploration (Contributor)

Created2024-05