Follow The Water

NASA’s motto in exoplanet research is “Follow the water,” because liquid water is the best indication we have that a planet might be habitable.

The Chemistry lab students were tasked with testing samples from the “latest NASA mission” to figure out which (if any!) of the clear liquids they tested was water. They spent several days beforehand exploring the weird chemical properties of water and why it’s so well-suited to support life, and they could use any of the information they had learned to devise tests for the samples. Their results were written up as if they were submitting their data to a research journal, including having to produce evidence for why they thought each sample was or was not water-based.