Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" I'd been politically active ever since my parents wheeled me in a stroller in a 'ban the bomb' march in Boston in 1963. "
David Grinspoon
Active
Been
Boston
Related Quotes:
" What if life is not carbon-based? Can life exist as a gas or a plasma? Could planets or stars in some sense be alive? What about an interstellar cloud? Could life exist on such a small or large scale, or move so fast or so slowly that we wouldn't recognize it? Could you have an intelligent virus? "
David Grinspoon
Fast
Cloud
You
" What we should really be thinking about is what it would look like for a truly intelligent technological species to be interacting with their planet's atmosphere. "
David Grinspoon
Look
Thinking
Intelligent
" In my Ph.D. thesis, written in 1989, I discussed the fact that when a civilization develops the technology to prevent catastrophic asteroid impacts, it marks a significant moment in the evolution of the planet. "
David Grinspoon
Technology
Fact
Evolution
" Certainly for me, as an astrobiologist, science fiction has played an important role. One of the quandaries of our field is that we are trying to study and search for something - life - that we can't define in a rigorous way. We only have one example of a biosphere, so we can't really give a good definition. "
David Grinspoon
Life
Good
Trying
" Earth's biosphere gave birth to humans and our thoughts, which are now reshaping its planetary cycles. A planet with brains? Fancy that. "
David Grinspoon
Earth
Our
Now
" If you were on the surface of Venus, assuming you could see the Sun, which, you know, would be hard because it's so cloudy there, but the Sun would actually rise in the west and set in the east. And, it would do so very, very slowly, because the planet rotates incredibly slowly. "
David Grinspoon
Rise
Know
Cloudy
" NASA, and all the other spacefaring nations of the world, have agreed to a set of 'planetary-protection' principles, aimed at preventing the accidental contamination of another habitable world with organisms from Earth. "
David Grinspoon
NASA
World
Principles
" Humans are possessed, to some degree, with the power of foresight. Yet we so often learn things the hard way, through disaster. "
David Grinspoon
Disaster
Some
Way
" We don't know that Venus had oceans, but there's every reason to believe it did. "
David Grinspoon
Know
Reason
Venus
" There was a long history of people believing there was life on Venus. It was about the same size as Earth. It had clouds. It was commonly believed it was tropical - wet, hot and steamy. "
David Grinspoon
Life
Hot
History
" In environments that are energy-rich but liquid-poor, like near the surface of Titan, natural selection may favor organisms that use their metabolic heat to melt their own watering holes. "
David Grinspoon
Favor
Heat
Natural
" Earth is a stunningly lovely planet for so many reasons. Among these is the wondrous presence of curious, artful, inventive humanity. "
David Grinspoon
Many
Presence
Humanity
" Earth is going to lose its oceans in the future, just as Venus did in the past. How long planets retain their oceans is a function of distance from the sun, all other things being equal. "
David Grinspoon
Sun
Past
Long
" I do a lot of work with NASA and am involved in research projects studying planetary evolution, Earth-like planets, and potential conditions for life elsewhere. "
David Grinspoon
Research
Potential
NASA
" I'm an astrobiologist, and I come from a planetary science background, so in a very broad sense, I study the evolution of planetary environments. "
David Grinspoon
Evolution
Study
Sense
" The mature Anthropocene begins when we acquire the ability to live sustainably and become a lasting presence on this world. "
David Grinspoon
Become
Mature
Presence
" Why should we consider defining intelligence as something global and as something that hasn't actually yet appeared on Earth? It may be useful for envisioning the future of our own civilization and any others that may be out there among the stars. It might give us something to strive for. "
David Grinspoon
Intelligence
Future
Earth
" Astrobiology is a great point of contact for science outreach. The public is naturally interested in extra-terrestrial life. Astrobiology provides an accessible point of access that leads to deeper questions. "
David Grinspoon
Questions
Point
Great
" I think Pluto has to be considered among the places in the solar system that are possible homes for life. "
David Grinspoon
Places
Think
Solar
" Seriously, we should start taxing churches and have tax-exempt places for worship and study of nature and art. Charge ten bucks for Sunday services and make the Botanic Gardens free. "
David Grinspoon
Study
Art
Free
" You cannot study other planets without referring to Earth and without applying the techniques and the insights of Earth science. And you cannot really do a good job understanding the Earth without the insights from planetary exploration. "
David Grinspoon
Science
Earth
Good
" I do comparative studies of climate evolution, and the interactions between planetary atmosphere and surfaces and their radiation environment, and try to understand the environmental factors that can affect a planet's habitability and how they change over time. "
David Grinspoon
Environment
Time
Environmental
" If we gutted NASA Earth Science, it wouldn't be NOAA or some other agency that would take the lead. It would be the Chinese and the Europeans and the Japanese. "
David Grinspoon
Lead
Science
NASA
" Our most valuable resources - creativity, communication, invention, and reinvention - are, in fact, unlimited. "
David Grinspoon
Communication
Creativity
Invention
" Through space-based climate studies, my colleagues and I have learned that a stable and comfortable climate is not something to take for granted. "
David Grinspoon
Take For Granted
Colleagues
Through
" Venus and Mars are our next of kin: they are the two most Earth-like planets that we know about. They're the only two other very Earth-like planets in our solar system, meaning they orbit close to the sun; they have rocky surfaces and thin atmospheres. "
David Grinspoon
Two
Know
Solar
" The future peopling of Mars is much more than a scientific endeavor. It is a step of historic and spiritual importance for the human race. "
David Grinspoon
Race
Step
Spiritual
" When I first went to college, I went into physics, and my goal was to help perfect nuclear fusion so I could solve the energy crisis and global warming. I probably would have done it, too, if I'd stuck to it. "
David Grinspoon
College
Help
Perfect
" I'd like to jump a couple hundred years into the future and work with the scientists who are getting back the first information from our probes to planets orbiting nearby stars. "
David Grinspoon
Stars
Future
Work
" Whenever I see a nighttime picture of Earth from space, with its glowing lights, I am stirred by its beauty. "
David Grinspoon
I Am
Beauty
Space