Terraforming

Last week I was walking with our son and as usual we talked about strange and interesting topics, most always related to science in some way. He brought up the subject that we should try to find a planet to terraform and how we could go about it - identifying suitable candidates and then he posited we would need to import plants and animals for sustenance. I pointed out that perhaps there would be existing plant life we could identify as edible (or catalog as poisonous) or even larger animals suitable for meat. We talked about cross-breeding with our crops and all sorts of fun fantastical ideas. Not sure what brought the idea into his head, but yep, that's the discussion we had.

Now today as I flipped through channels, Naked Science on NatGeo, episode "Deadliest Planets," is talking about searching for possibly habitable planets near to Earth. As the name implies, the focus here is on the dangers and challenges we would face on each planet respectively.

These challenges are food for thought - problems and puzzles to be solved.