Where did life originate from? Is there life outside Earth? Professor Maria Cunningham, Head of theAstrophysics Department within the School of Physics in UNSW, is trying to find the answers to these questions.

The Search for Life

Professor Maria Cunningham is anastrophysicist.Her main focus isbioastronomy.Bioastronomy involves the search for organic and biological molecules out in space. In fact, organic molecules such asethanol,aldehydes(simple sugars) andammonia,which are strongly tied to the functions of living cells, have been observed in cooler parts of the galaxy. If molecules such asglycine(the simplest form of protein) andnucleic acids(the building blocks of DNA) are found in space it could mean that life on Earth may have originated from extraterrestrial sources.