A Stockton University professor is thinking outside the box and making the public think about the origins of life.

Lauren Seylor is a biology professor. This summer, she spent three weeks on a boat near Chile, scanning the ocean floor for methane vents - and seeing life around that heat source over 9,000 feet down.

Her research challenges the traditional view that you need sunlight for life because down there, there is no light.

Her Jersey Proud work could lead to wide-ranging implications for the field of astrobiology, including the question of life on other planets.