« June 2007 | Main | August 2007 »
July 31, 2007
July 27, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 27 July 2007
July 26, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 26 July 2007
July 25, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 25 July 2007
July 24, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 24 July 2007
July 23, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 23 July 2007
July 20, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 20 July 2007
July 19, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 19 July 2007
July 18, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 18 July 2007
July 16, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 16 July 2007
July 13, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 13 July 2007
July 10, 2007
Your Assistance is needed for Bioastronomy 2007 Meeting
Many NAI members will be attending next week's Bioastronomy meeting in San Juan Puerto Rico. As an experiment at this interdisciplinary conference, we have asked our meeting attendees to define jargon and vocabulary words that someone outside their discipline might not understand in an interdisciplinary event. We have had quite good response to this, but would like to fill out our list a bit more, and are asking you to help. Think back to your recent talks or upcoming talks and select a few words you use that could be entered into our glossary. Our hope is that this will be a continuing/ evolving resource for the whole institute.
We will be producing our final handouts for shipping on Wed 7/11, so if you could take a few moments first thing on Tues 7/10 to contribute it would be greatly appreciated! http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/UHNAI/bioast07.htm
Click on the science program button, then speaker's glossary (you can search and add, or look at the glossary we have to date).
As an example, I gave a talk earlier this semester to a diverse group, being careful to define real jargon, but didn't realize that while the biologists had the gist of what a "comet" was in my talk, they didn't appreciate it well enough to fully understand the context of my talk. By the same token, I recently participated in a volcanology conference - and while many of the terms were things I'd heard before, they were not things I could define for someone, and after pestering the volcanologists during all the breaks for definitions e.g. pyroclastic flow, dykes, rootless cone etc.), I really appreciated the science presented at a much greater level and started to see how it was applicable to comet physics.
Kind regards, Karen Meech LOC Chair [Source: NAI Newsletter]
NAI Selects Six Lewis and Clark Field Scholars
The NAI and the American Philosophical Society (APS), the oldest learned society in North America and the sponsor of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery in 1804, are partners in the Lewis and Clark Fund for Exploration and Field Research in Astrobiology. This program provides opportunities for the continued exploration of the world around us through research grants in support of astrobiological field studies–encouraging the best young scientists to engage in the exploration vision of NASA. This year, six Lewis and Clark Field Scholars were jointly selected by the NAI and APS. Their projects span the breadth of astrobiology research – and the globe – taking them this summer to locales such as Iceland, Greenland, Utah, and the Andes. For more information on the program, go to: http://nai.nasa.gov/funding/LewisandClarklist.cfm [Source: NAI Newsletter]
Extracellular Protein-Metal Aggregates: A New Biosignature?
Deep inside a flooded mine in Wisconsin, scientists from NAI’s University of California, Berkeley Team have discovered an environment in which bacteria emit proteins that sweep up metal nanoparticles into immobile clumps. Their finding may lead to innovative ways to remediate subsurface metal toxins, and have exciting implications for identifying biosignatures on Earth and other worlds. The research, published in the June 14th issue of Science, was done in collaboration with a team from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. [Source: NAI Newsletter]
Evidence for Ancient Ocean on Mars
Scientists from NAI's University of California, Berkeley Team have a new paper out in Nature outlining evidence for the presence of an ancient ocean on Mars. The study points to a large body of liquid water at the pole which could have shifted Mars' spin axis. This shift would have in turn deformed the shoreline of this ocean relative to the rest of the surface topography, in accordance with observations. [Source: NAI Newsletter]
Methane in the Martian Atmosphere
Scientists from NAI's IPTAI Team have a paper out in Geophysical Research Letters detailing a new mechanism for recent methane release on Mars. Their results show that increasing salinity can cause destabilization of subsurface methane hydrates, and that active thermal or pressure fluctuations are not required to account for the presence of methane in the atmosphere. [Source: NAI Newsletter]
Chemical Complexity in an Old Star
Scientists from NAI's University of Arizona Team have studied the outflow of VY Canis Majoris, an oxygen-rich supergiant star. Thier results show that, against expectations, an old, oxygen-rich star can synthesize a chemically varied molecular cocktail. The study is published in Nature, and a News and Views about the paper is also available. [Source: NAI Newsletter]
July 9, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 9 July 2007
AbSciCon 2008 Call for Session Topic Proposals
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". To submit proposals, and for more details, please go to the conference website, http://abscicon.seti.org. The deadline for submission of session topic proposals is July 23, 2007. Questions can be addressed to: session.proposals@seti.org.
July 8, 2007
Formation, Composition and Early Evolution of Outer Giant and Dwarf Planets and of their Satellites
Date: December 6-7th, 2007
Time: TBA
Venue: NASA Ames Research Center, Auditorium, Building N-245, Mountain View, CA
Organizing Committee: Ignacio Mosqueira (NASA Ames/SETI Institute), Dale Cruikshank (NASA Ames) Owing to spacecraft missions and groundbased observations, we possess a wealth of Solar System data. The richness of the observations should provide a solid foundation for our understanding of the early history of the Solar System. Yet, this abundance also means that in practice one must subdivide the problem into more manageable pieces. While this is a practical approach, before reliable conclusions can be obtained in this way, they must survive consistency checks, and a battery of tests involving a sufficiently broad observational sample. Only then can we attain a deeper understanding of the origins of planetary systems in general, and the Solar System in particular.
The objective of this meeting is to address a number of key aspects of the early history of the outer Solar System. The emphasis is on the origin of the giant and dwarf planets and of their satellites, and on the connections and contrasts that exist between planetary and satellite systems. The aim is to bring together a diverse group of researchers employing independent sets of constraints. Discussion of laboratory work will be included when appropriate. Note: Please email Ignacio Mosqueira at mosqueir@cosmic.arc.nasa.gov if you are interested in attending this meeting. For more information: http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/agu/ [Source: NAI Newsletter]
July 6, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 6 July 2007
July 5, 2007
Astrobiology Science News 5 July 2007
July 3, 2007
Bioastronomy 2007
Members of the media are invited to attend Bioastronomy 2007, a meeting convened by an international organizing committee of representatives from the scientific community. Scientists from all over the world will gather at this meeting in San Juan to report on latest findings in the study of the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe.
The field of bioastronomy, also known as astrobiology, encompasses research on topics ranging from the origins of life on Earth to the identification and characterization of extrasolar planets to possible habitats for extraterrestrial life.
Sessions at Bioastronomy 2007 are organized around themes such as Mars as a setting for life, life in the outer solar system, habitable planets and their stars, and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Among featured speakers will be:
* Jean-Pierre Bibring, European Space Agency (ESA), principal investigator for the OMEGA experiment on ESA's Mars Express mission;
* David DesMarais, NASA Ames Research Center, participating scientist with the Mars Exploration Rover, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Science Laboratory missions and a NASA Astrobiology Institute research team leader;
* Pascale Ehrenfreund, Leiden Observatory, an expert on interstellar organic chemistry;
* Guillermo Lemarchand, Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomia, director of "Southern SETI";
* Carolyn Porco, University of Colorado, imaging team leader for the Cassini mission to Saturn; and * Jan Sapp, York University, an authority on microbial evolution.
On July 17, a panel of space agency representatives will report on astrobiology activities around the world. On July 18, Mexico's leading astrobiologist, Antonio Lazcano of the National Autonomous University in Mexico City, will deliver a public lecture on the topic of "The emergence of life on Earth: old problems, new perspectives."
Planetary astronomer Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii's Institute for Astronomy heads the Local Organizing Committee for Bioastronomy 2007. Astronomer William Irvine of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst chairs the Scientific Organizing Committee for the event. The meeting is sponsored in part by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center and its Arecibo Observatory, which is operated by Cornell University for the National Science Foundation.
Media representatives attending Bioastronomy 2007 will be charged a registration fee to cover the cost of meals and refreshments. A press room will be available at the conference hotel. For a complete agenda and registration instructions, see: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/UHNAI/bioast07.htm
BIOASTRONOMY 2007: MOLECULES, MICROBES, AND EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE JULY 16-20, 2007, HOTEL CONDADO PLAZA, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO
For more information or a complete agenda, contact:
Linda Billings
1-202-479-4311
lbillings@seti.org
Astrobiology Science News 3 July 2007
The National Academies Search for 'weird' life
THE LIMITS OF ORGANIC LIFE IN PLANETARY SYSTEMS, a new report from the National Research Council, examines the search for life elsewhere in the universe and whether the fundamental requirements for life as we generally know it are the only ways phenomena recognized as "life" could be supported beyond our planet.
Whether "weird" life, as scientists sometimes refer to life with a different biochemical structure than life here, should be considered in the search for extraterrestrial life is looked at in the report.
Advance copies will be available to reporters only beginning at noon on Thursday, July 5. THE REPORT IS EMBARGOED AND NOT FOR PUBLIC RELEASE BEFORE 2 P.M. EDT ON FRIDAY, JULY 6.
To obtain a copy, contact the National Academies' Office of News and Public Information; tel. 202-334-2138 or e-mail news@nas.edu.
Contact: Paul Jackson
news@nas.edu
202-334-2138
July 1, 2007
Radiation Biology Educators Guide
As an extension of the "Radiation Biology Educator Guide" developed by the Space Biosciences Outreach Office in FY06, we are currently adapting the material to provide three hands-on activities that meet middle school national standards. This task is part of a Marshall Space Flight Center Education Affairs Office project entitled Radiation and Human Space Flight. We completed a significant component in the current project by presenting the material to an educator audience for review and evaluation.
The presentation was made at the 2007 annual Project ASTRO Site Leaders Workshop at Space Center Houston on May 15. The participants provided valuable oral and written feedback, including comments indicating that the presentation and activities had made them aware that radiation poses a significant health risk for human space flight, and that NASA supports research to help reduce the risk.
A summary report of the evaluations will be completed this week and provided to MSFC EAO. A final report of this task will be completed June 30th. The audience members are site leaders for Project ASTRO, a group that promotes astronomy education. Each provides lessons for teachers in their home region. They will begin to incorporate these activities into their lessons in the Fall.
FOTON-M3 Team Completes Flight Simulation Tests
The NASA Foton-M3 team visited Moscow May 14-25, 2007. Flight Simulation Tests (FST) of 4 biology experiments were completed and all scientific procedures for the Foton-M3 flight experiments were completed. Foton-M3 studies with newts, geckos, snails and microbial cultures will examine how learning, behavior, tissue regeneration, genetic responses, growth, and other factors respond to exposure to spaceflight.
Plans and schedules were reviewed, and options to shorten the period between landing (near Kustanay, Kazakhstan) and return of the samples to the Moscow laboratories were discussed. During this visit, NASA provided prototypes of the video and water delivery components to be installed in Russian flight habitats.
The flight versions of these video and water delivery components are currently being assembled and tested here at Ames (prototype versions have passed both shock and vibration tests) with delivery to Moscow slated for early August 2007.
Copyright © 2008 SpaceRef Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy.
Search
Links