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A Slow Death in the P-T Extinction
Paleogeography in the northern hemisphere during the Permian-Triassic boundary extinction 252 million years ago. The West Blind Fiord (WBF) site on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic is shown in relation to the site of the Siberian Traps. Image Credit: Thomas Algeo
New research, supported in part by the NASA Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology (Exo/Evo) program, shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden events. In an extensive investigation of rock layers at West Blind Fiord on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic, the team revealed that Earth’s deadliest-known mass extinction took place in stages over hundreds of thousands of years.The “Great Dying” occurred roughly 252 million years ago at the end of the Permian period, and resulted in the loss of 90 percent of Earth’s marine life. The evidence suggests that the event was linked to...
Source: [University of Cincinnati]
February 9, 2012 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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A New Pathway to Life's Origin
Scientists have shown that sugars essential for life to begin can be produced by a previously unknown pathway. For decades, chemists thought that the formose reaction was the only route for sugar production, but the a study may push research in pre-life chemistry past this hurdle. The research was funded in part by the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology program, an element of the NASA Astrobiology Program.
The team from the Scripps Research Institute reporting their research online ahead of print in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The research was funded by the Skaggs Research Foundation, NASA...
Source: [Scripps Research Institute]
February 6, 2012 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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2012 Astrobiology Graduate Student Conference
The 2012 Astrobiology Graduate Student Conference will be held on August 27–30, 2012, preceded by the Research Focus Group splinter, August 24-26. The conference will be held at the California Institute for Technology (Caltech), with an outreach event at the University of Southern California (USC), and a field-trip to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
The conference will consist of three days of scientific sessions, two evenings of public outreach and education activities, and a one day field trip to JPL. The talks and poster sessions will draw on the success of past AbGradCons as a...
February 2, 2012 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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A Salt-Free Primordial Soup?
Lipid molecules will spontaneously form layers and vesicles. Credit: Henrik Skov Midtiby
Most scientists who study the origin of life assume that it occurred in the ocean. But a minority view is that ions in seawater may interfere with prebiotic chemistry, making a freshwater environment more likely.“The main argument for a marine origin is that there is so much seawater,” says David Deamer of UC Santa Cruz. Roughly 98% of the Earth’s water bodies are salty, and this percentage was likely much higher 4 billion years ago when we think the first life-forms made their appearance.
But Deamer doesn’t think quantity is a substitute for quality. Seawater, in his estimation,...
Source: [astrobio.net]
January 20, 2012 / Written by: Michael Schirber
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The Pale Blue Blog
The Pale Blue Blog, now available at Astrobiology Magazine. http://astrobio.net/paleblueblog/
The Astrobiology Magazine is now welcoming the addition of the Pale Blue Blog – a unique collection of individual bloggers who voice their opinions on matters ranging from the evolution of life to extrasolar planets. According to the organizers, the new science blog is “about ‘Pale blue dots,’ in the way that Carl Sagan once referred to the Earth.”From Pale Blue Blog:
This blog aims to be a little different than your “traditional” science blog, in much the same way an interactive classroom is different from a “traditional” powerpoint-based one. We want to foster multi-directional conversations....Source: [astrobio.net]
January 13, 2012 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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FameLab Astrobiology in Houston
We need you in Houston! Sign up today to participate in FameLab Astrobiology at the Lunar and Planetary Institute on January 13th. FameLab is a science communication competition that focuses on building your skills with workshops on good communication practices. The workshop in Houston will be led by the Co-Directors of the National Association for Interpretation. Competitors will present a three-minute piece on their research or an astrobiology-related topic of their choosing. Those topping the competition in Houston will go on to the final at AbSciCon in April…the winner there will go...
January 5, 2012 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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New Astrobiology Chair at Library of Congress
APPLICATION DEADLINE IS NOW FEBRUARY 13TH
Candidates should apply directly using the online form. Nominations should be submitted in writing to scholarly@loc.gov.
NASA and the Library of Congress have established the Baruch S. Blumberg NASA-Library of Congress chair in Astrobiology at the Library’s scholarly research organization, the John W. Kluge Center in Washington. The chair is named for the late Nobel Laureate and founding director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, Baruch
“Barry” Blumberg.Astrobiology is the study of the origins, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe. Astrobiology addresses three fundamental...
January 3, 2012 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
