Sonia Tikoo is a scientist!

Dr. Sonia Tikoo is a planetary scientist (a scientist who studies other planets). Her lab is at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Sonia cannot go to other planets to do her research, but there are places on Earth she can study that can help her learn about other planets. She has done research in the Himalayas, western Australia, and asteroid and comet impact craters around the world. She has also been able to study moon rocks that she borrowed from the Johnson Space Center. She says about her research, "I want to learn how the planets and moons in our Solar System initially formed and how they have changed over time. One way planets and moons change is that they get hit by asteroids and comets. Therefore, I also study how impacts mess up planets' surfaces and interiors."

A scientist's job is to ask questions that we don't know the answers to and then work to find the answers through observation, experiments, and careful thinking. A scientific question that Sonia would like to answer is "When the Earth was young, it got hit by many large impacts that were even bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs!  I'd like to figure out whether life could begin and survive under such conditions."

You can learn more about Sonia and her research here. You can also read an interview with her where she talks about her research here.

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