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Dear ASGSB members, The deadline for submitting abstracts for the 2007 Annual Meeting is Friday, July 6 (http://www.asgsb.org/abstract/abstractsubmission.html).

This year's meeting is scheduled for October 25-28, 2007, at the NASA Research Park, next to the Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. The meeting features symposia on "Astrobiology: Understanding Life in the Solar System," chaired by Carl Pilcher; "Science for Small Satellites," chaired by John Hines; and "Radiation Biology," chaired by Paul Todd. In addition, there will be a special session entitled, "Career Choices in the Space Life Sciences," as well as opportunities for students to make oral presentations in the main sessions. At the banquet. Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute will stimulate us with his questions, "Will we find ET? And, what if we do?"

For more information about the Annual Meeting, check out the spring Newsletter (http://www.asgsb.org/newsletter/v23_2/v23n2.pdf).

If you haven't already renewed your membership, we hope you will take care of that soon, and use the attached form to register for the meeting.

We look forward to seeing you in October!

Sincerely,

Dr. Tom K. Scott
ASGSB Executive Director

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"In July 2007 several hundred students will get look over the shoulder of space researchers at a remote research base in the Canadian arctic. The place: Devon Island, a place many call "Mars on Earth". Our team will visit Devon Island to conduct 5 days of webcasts and other instructional activities spanning the period of 16-20 July 2007. Our team consists of 4 individuals: veteran astronauts William Readdy and Leroy Chiao, horticulturist/space researcher Matthew Reyes, and space biologist Keith Cowing (who is also the team lead for this project)."

More information

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"In July 2007 several hundred students will get look over the shoulder of space researchers at a remote research base in the Canadian arctic. The place: Devon Island, a place many call "Mars on Earth". Our team will visit Devon Island to conduct 5 days of webcasts and other instructional activities spanning the period of 16-20 July 2007. Our team consists of 4 individuals: veteran astronauts William Readdy and Leroy Chiao, horticulturist/space researcher Matthew Reyes, and space biologist Keith Cowing (who is also the team lead for this project)."

More information

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The Science Steering Committee of the 2008 Astrobiology Science Conference (April 15-17, Santa Clara, California, USA) invites proposals for sessions related to the major scientific themes: "The Astronomical and Planetary Context for Life", "The Origin and Evolution of Life", and "The Search for Life in our Solar System and Beyond".

Proposals can be submitted via the conference website (http://abscicon.seti.org) and should include: (i) a one- to two-paragraph formal description of the session topic suitable for publication in a call for abstracts and (ii) (optional) an accessory statement that adds any other pertinent information for consideration by the conference organizers. Proposers are also asked to identify, if possible, the meeting theme with which the proposed session most closely aligns (desirable but not required).

In keeping with the overarching goals of the meeting, the SSC particularly encourages proposed session topics that address one or more of the following goals: (i) integrate multiple scientific disciplines, (ii) highlight the astrobiological relevance or work of disciplines and communities that are yet to be deeply engaged in astrobiology, (iii) explore emerging research areas of relevance to astrobiology, (iv) consider communication, education, outreach and advocacy in the context of astrobiology.

Proposers of selected session topics will be expected to assume responsibility for organization of the proposed session, to include review of abstracts, recruitment of invited speakers (if desired), scheduling of talks within the session, and arrangement for session chair(s).

The deadline for submission of session topic proposals is July 23, 2007.

Questions can be addressed to: session.proposals@seti.org.

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Jennifer Heldmann has been invited to participate in a special COSPAR Colloquium on Mars Special Regions. This meeting is an essential step in developing an international consensus on the definition of "special" regions on Mars, which will in-turn determine the application of planetary protection requirements for future Mars lander missions. This 3-day meeting will take place in Rome, Italy on 18-20 September 2007. For more on COSPAR Colloquia visit: http://cosparhq.cnes.fr/Meetings/Colloq.htm

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The NASA Ames Exobiology Program and the NAI have been asked to contribute candidate astrobiology spaceflight experiments for small satellites. A three-day workshop will be held with leaders in the fields of astrobiology, astrophysics, and planetary science. Find out more at: http://amesevents.arc.nasa.gov/asp/

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A Habitable Earth, Systemic: "There remain three blockbuster, front-page discoveries in exoplanetary science. The first is the identification of a potentially habitable Earth-mass planet around another star. The second is the detection of a life-bearing planet. The third is contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. It’s hard to predict when (and in which order) discoveries #2 and #3 will take place. Discovery #1, on the other hand, is imminent. We’re currently 2±1 years away from the detection of the first habitable Earth-mass planet (which implies ~15% chance that the announcement will come within one year). The breakthrough detection of a habitable Earth will almost certainly stem from high-precision Doppler monitoring of a nearby red dwarf star, and already, both the Swiss team and the California-Carnegie team are coming tantalizingly close"

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The National Research Council's Space Studies Board will host a colloquium on astrobiology and Mars exploration at the Hilton Pasadena Hotel. Participants will hear briefings from the chairs of three recent Academies studies on different aspects of exploration for life on Mars and other potential organic environments in the universe. There will also be a status report on NASA's plans for Mars exploration. This Research Council colloquium precedes the 7th International Conference on Mars at California Institute of Technology.

DETAILS:

Open sessions are Sunday, July 8, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hilton Pasadena Hotel, 168 South Los Robles Ave., Pasadena, Calif.

SPEAKERS:

• David Beaty, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
• Steven Benner, Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, Gainesville, Fla.
• James Ferris, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y.
• Lennard J. Fisk, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Bruce Jakosky, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Don McCoy, European Space Agency, Paris
• Doug McCuistion, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.
• Michael Meyer, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.
• John D. Rummel, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.
• Jeffrey Volosin, NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.

REPORTERS WHO WISH TO ATTEND MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE with the National Academies’ Office of News and Public Information, tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.

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The NAI has been called upon to use its expertise in managing a complex, distributed research organization to lead the development of a new web presence for NASA's Astrobiology Program.

The program includes several elements, including the NAI, the Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology grant program, and two science and technology grant programs: Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets (ASTEP), and Astrobiology Science and Technology for Instrument Development (ASTID).

The new web presence will unify the research, education efforts, accomplishments, and opportunities of each of these elements, and become the one place on the web where interested parties can obtain information about astrobiology at NASA.

Visit the existing NAI site at: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/

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On Monday, June 18, 2007, astrobiologist Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution and George Mason University, will provide insights into the emergence of life on our planet--and perhaps others--during a Directorate for Biological Sciences Distinguished Lecture at the National Science Foundation (NSF) in Arlington, Va.

Who: Astrobiologist Robert Hazen

What: Lecture on the genesis of life

Where:
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Room 375
Arlington, VA 22230
When: Monday, June 18, 2007, 3 p.m.

Life on Earth arose nearly 4 billion years ago. Though the process obeyed all the rules of chemistry and physics, the details of that original event pose as deep a mystery as any facing scientists, believes Hazen. By what process did life actually begin? How did non-living chemistry become "alive"? Where, when, and how did life emerge on the primitive Earth? Is life's origin an "imperative" throughout the cosmos, or is life an improbable accident, restricted to a few planets (or only one)?

Background:

Through experiments that subject elements found near deep-ocean vents to high temperatures and crushing pressures, Hazen hypothesizes that life may well have begun in such a place, nourished by a rich mixture of minerals and organic compounds, and energized by Earth's tectonic forces.

But what about on other planets?

Without direct observations of worlds beyond our own, scientists seek ways of deducing whether life exists there.

The origin of life on our world and possibly on others, says Hazen, can be modeled as a sequence of events that transformed the lifeless geochemistry of oceans, atmosphere and earth into a living planet.

It all comes down to emergence, he says. Emergence in common usage, he writes in his book Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origin, refers to a shadowy figure from the darkness, a submarine from the sea, or a plot in a novel.

But emergence has developed a different meaning in scientific terminology. Researchers use emergence to describe processes by which complex systems arise from simpler ones.

The process begins with the synthesis of biomolecules in a variety of pre-biotic environments.

A key step on Earth in the ancient transition from geochemistry to biochemistry was the emergence of the first self-replicating molecules and the triggering of rapid evolution through competition and natural selection. This concept of a sequence of steps is important in studies of the origin of life because it reduces a complex process to a series of more manageable chemical episodes, believes Hazen. Each step becomes a process for laboratory experimentation or theoretical modeling of how life began on Earth. And perhaps on distant planets. -NSF-

Media Contacts

Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Related Websites

NSF Biological Sciences Directorate: http://www.nsf.gov/bio

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