Astrobiology

     Astrobiology studies the existence, origin, presence and influence of life in the Universe using a great amount of sciences, such as Astronomy, Astrophysics, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Maths, Statistics... It seeks to respond to these questions: What's life? How did life appear in Earth? How does it evolve and grow? Is there life in any other place of the Universe? What's the future of life on Earth?
     What makes astrobiology so exciting is that you can get into it from pretty much any scientific background you like, since there are no dedicated undergraduate degrees in astrobiology. However, you can attend to these studies by distance learning (as Lancashire's University offers) and take a MOOC (massive open online course) such as this one run through Coursera.

     In order to work as an astrobiologist, the best strategy is to identify a research group that is involved in the part of astrobiology you are interested in and contact the Principal Investigator, asking for a position. Thus, you'll be able to join organizations such as the NASA Astrobiology Institute and the Astrobiology Society of Britain.

    Last but not least, I finish this post with an informative article (extracted from a documentary series) by the prominent astronomer Carl Sagan, that I hope you like:

Astrobiology research groups active: astrobiology projects

                                   Other organizations of interest:

• UK Space Biomedicine Association 
• Royal Astronomical Society  
• European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) 
• Astrobiology magazine  
• NASA Astrobiology