"What do you think about the asteroid Apophis? Will we destroy it or do you think we will gamble it?"
Welcome to the NAI Newsletter! The Newsletter is a compendium of announcements, events, updates, and news items related to the NAI and its research. If you have news items or suggestions you can send them to the editor, Marco Boldt at: Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov.
Newsletter for February 15, 2008
- 2/25 Director's Seminar: "Can Rocks from Mars Yield Definitive Evidence of Past Life?"
- Staff Scientist Positions Available at Carnegie Institution of Washington
- NAI Minority Institution Research Support (MIRS) Program - Application Deadline - March 7, 2008
- NAI Cooperative Agreement Notice (Cycle-5) Notices of Intent Due February 22nd
2/25 Director's Seminar: "Can Rocks from Mars Yield Definitive Evidence of Past Life?"
Presenter: J. William Schopf
Date/Time: 2/25/2008 11:00 AM PST
Throughout recorded Earth history, microbial life has been ubiquitous, abundant, metabolically diverse, and, for the Precambrian four billion years of geologic time, biotically predominant. In the search for life elsewhere in the Cosmos, the prokaryote-dominated world of the Precambrian is the best analogue we know. Though evidence of microbe-level life will thus be sought in rocks returned from Mars, for the first such missions only minimal samples will be available. This raises important questions: What amount of rock is needed to detect past life? What evidence is required to establish biogenicity? How can true fossils be distinguished from contaminants?
The Precambrian fossil record holds the answer. Given the minute size of fossil microbes and their prodigious abundance in some Precambrian rocks, firm evidence of ancient life has been adduced from samples weighing as little as 0.1 g (in volume, about half the size of a grain of rice). Backed by other lines of evidence, the biogenicity of such fossils is shown by their (1) biological, cellular, morphology and (2) carbonaceous (kerogenous) composition. And their indigenousness is established by showing that (3) the geochemical maturity of the fossil-comprising kerogen is consistent with the rock matrix in which they occur.
The presence of these three fossil-identifying traits can be shown by use of confocal laser scanning microscopy and Raman imagery, two techniques new to astrobiology. By providing micron-scale three-dimensional images of organic-walled fossils, both yield firm evidence of biological morphology, and Raman imagery can establish the molecular-structural composition as well as the geochemical maturity of the analyzed kerogen. Both of these non-intrusive and non-destructive techniques can be used to study fossils embedded in petrographic thin sections such as those to be prepared for mineralogical studies of Mars rocks.
For more information and participation instructions: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/seminars/seminar_detail.cfm?ID=118
Staff Scientist Positions Available at Carnegie Institution of Washington
The Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington invites applications for Staff Scientist positions. We seek energetic and creative scientists to develop and carry out world-leading research in fields that complement and extend the current strengths of the Geophysical Laboratory. The Laboratory emphasizes interdisciplinary experimental and theoretical research programs spanning materials physics, chemistry, biology, geoscience, and planetary science. It supports world-class facilities in high-pressure science, synchrotron radiation research, computational and experimental mineral physics, geochemistry, microbiology, and astrobiology.
For more information: http://www.gl.ciw.edu
Applications including CV, list of personal references, and research plans should be submitted to:
Russell J. Hemley, Director
Geophysical Laboratory
Carnegie Institution of Washington
5251 Broad Branch Road, NW 20015
USA, or email to dappleby@ciw.edu.
NAI Minority Institution Research Support (MIRS) Program - Application Deadline - March 7, 2008
The NAI-MIRS Program provides opportunities for researchers from qualified minority institutions to initiate joint partnerships with researchers in the field of astrobiology. The NAI-MIRS program provides summer sabbaticals, follow-up support, and travel opportunities for faculty and students from minority institutions. The application deadline for summer 2008 is March 7th. For more information, visit http://www.nai-mirs.org.
NAI Cooperative Agreement Notice (Cycle-5) Notices of Intent Due February 22nd
The NAI announces, through the release of this Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN), an opportunity for the submission of team-based proposals for membership in the Institute. Proposals should clearly articulate an innovative, interdisciplinary, astrobiology research program, together with plans to advance the full scope of NAI objectives as defined in the Institute's Mission Statement. The Cooperative Agreement Notice can be accessed at: http://nspires.nasaprs.com
CAN Release Date: January 8, 2008
Notices of Intent Due: February 22, 2008
Proposals Due: April 11, 2008
Recently Published Research from the NAI
Rethinking Early Earth Phosphorus Geochemistry
Matt Pasek from NAI's University of Arizona Team recently published a paper in PNAS positing that the geochemistry of phosphorus on the early Earth was controlled by reduced oxidation state phosphorus compounds such as phosphite, rather than orthophosphate. This alternate view of early Earth phosphorus geochemistry provides an unexplored route to the formation of pertinent prebiotic phosphorus compounds, suggests a facile reaction pathway to condensed phosphates, and is consistent with the biochemical usage of reduced oxidation state phosphorus compounds in life today.
Detecting Water on Extrasolar Planet Surfaces
New work from NAI's University of Hawai'i Team in Icarus indicates that astronomers will eventually be able to discriminate between extrasolar Earth-like planets with surface oceans and those without using the shape of phase light curves in the visible and near-IR spectrum. Their results suggest several new ways of directly identifying water on distant planets.
Astrobiology EPO, Undergrads, Grads, Postdocs
Floods and Flows: Exploring Mars Geology on Earth
The Lunar and Planetary Institute invites you to participate in:
Floods and Flows: Exploring Mars Geology on Earth
A NASA-sponsored field-based workshop, 13-19 July 2008
for intermediate grade level science teachers (other educators are invited)
Spend the week with planetary scientists visiting the site of Ancient Glacial Lake Missoula and tracing its flood waters through Montana, Idaho, and into Washington. Examine the geologic evidence for catastrophic flooding, as well as for past volcanism in this region. From these field experiences and accompanying classroom activities, participants will build an understanding of surface processes on Earth, including water flow, volcanism, glaciation, and sedimentation. Attendees will extend their understanding to interpret what the features on the surface of Mars suggest about past environments and history of the red planet.
The experience will be divided between the field and lab, where participants work with classroom-tested, hands-on inquiry based activities and resources that can be used to enhance Earth and space science teaching in the classroom. Participants receive lesson plans, supporting resources, and presentations. A limited number of grants are available to cover registration.
Join us for hands-on, real-world experience to enhance your teaching about Earth and space science - and the connections between these exciting fields of research!
For more information about costs and logistics, and to apply for the experience, please visit: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/education/fieldtrips/2008/
Applications are due April 7, 2008
Participants will be notified of their acceptance by April 15, 2008.
3rd Conference of the Astrobiology Society of Britain
The third conference of the Astrobiology Society of Britain will take place at the University of Glamorgan from July 1st to 4th, 2008.
Astrobiology is a multidisciplinary topic that brings together many branches of science. This conference will cover all aspects of research related to astrobiology, including (but not exclusively):
Astronomy ▪ Astrochemistry ▪ Astrobiology Technology ▪ Biology ▪ Development of Life-Forms in Other Environments ▪ Exoplanets ▪ Extremophiles ▪ Geomicrobiology ▪ Humans in Space ▪ Life’s Origins ▪ Mars ▪ Meteorites ▪ Microbial Communities ▪ Panspermia ▪ Planetary Protection ▪ Prebiotic Climates ▪ Public Engagement
Papers are solicited on all these and related topics
For more information: http://www.astrobiologysociety.org/
37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly
The International Committee on Space Research is holding the 37th COSPAR
Scientific Assembly in Montreal, Canada, July 13-20, 2008.
The deadline for abstract submission is midnight Sunday Feb 24th central European time, or 6 pm USA east coast time (3pm Pacific). The link for abstract submission is: http://www.cospar-assembly.org/user/mypapers.php?log=1
The NAI will be co-sponsoring the following two sessions:
Session B05 Making the Connection: Astromaterials and Impact Studies
Main Scientific Organizer: Monika Kress San Jose State University
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/admin/congress_overview.php?sessionid=8
Session F31 Circumstellar, Interstellar, and Protostellar Organic Chemistry.
Main Scientific Organizer: Max Bernstein NASA Ames Research Center
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/admin/congress_overview.php?sessionid=70
Other sessions of astrobiological interest include:
Chemical Evolution and the Origins of Life in the Solar System and Other Planetary Systems: Exo-, Astrobiological Aspects
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/admin/congress_overview.php?sessionid=71
Limits of Life: Lessons for Astrobiology
http://www.cospar-assembly.org/admin/congress_overview.php?sessionid=72
ISSOL 2008 Florence
The 2008 meeting of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life: The International Astrobiology Society will be held in Florence, Italy, August 24-29. 2008.
Online registration for the ISSOL’08 Meeting is now open.
For more information: http://www.dbag.unifi.it/issol2008/
