Here are some possible Astr 310 exam questions:
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Which of the following is NOT a question that astrobiology attempts to
answer, according to NASA's "Astrobiology Roadmap"?
 A) What are UFOs and what can they tell us about extraterrestrial life?
 B) Does life exist elsewhere in the universe?
 C) What is the future of life on Earth and beyond?
 D) How does life begin and evolve?


The speed of light in a vacuum, c, is equal to:
     A) 3,000 km/s                     B) 300,000 km/s
     C) 186,000 miles/hour             D) 300,000 meters per second


Which of the following is FALSE?
 A) Cosmic rays are atomic particles traveling near the speed of light.
 B) Planets form out of flattened, rotating protostellar/protoplanetary disks.
 C) Roughly five billion years from now, the Sun will become a supernova.
 D) "Ice" can mean the frozen form of water, ammonia, methane, and carbon
    dioxide.


"The sounds as they appear to you are not only different from those that
are really present, but they `sometimes behave so strangely' as to seem
quite impossible. ...sometimes behave so strangely...sometimes behave so
strangely..."
The above phrase, as discussed in class, is part of an example of:
A) the Doppler effect on radio waves originating from a planet orbiting
   a star.
B) cognitive interference, illustrating the complexity of the brain.
C) the Stroop effect, illustrating the unpredictable response of the brain.
D) an audio illusion, used to illustrate the complexity of perception and
   the mind.


If only one in a billion stars in the Milky Way has a planet orbiting
it capable of supporting life, how many habitable planets could there be
in our galaxy?
     A) less than ten                    B) a few hundred
     C) a few million                    D) several billion


It takes light about 8.4 minutes to travel 1 AU (Astronomical Unit).
How long would it take a radio wave to travel from the Sun to the Earth?
 A) 4.2 minutes
 B) 8.4 minutes
 C) 16.8 minutes
 D) exactly 2 years



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What are the 5 nucleotide bases used in DNA and RNA?
Which is used in DNA and which in RNA?


What is the evidence that all terrestrial life had a common ancestor?


What happened to most of the carbon dioxide that was present in the
Earth's atmosphere? Where did it go?



What are "biomarkers" and "biosignatures"?



What was the Miller-Urey experiment, and what did it tell us?