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Speaker: Norman Pace (University of Colorado, Boulder), Date/Time: Monday, September 24, 2007 11AM PDT

Abstract: Life anywhere in the universe is likely to be based on carbon and to have a basic biochemistry similar to our own. The fundamental demands of life anywhere thus are the same: to capture energy in order to transform organic chemistry into more of self. In order to accomplish these tasks and thrive, terrestrial life has penetrated all permissible thermodynamic and physical niches offered by planet Earth. Consequently, it is likely that terrestrial life offers models for life in almost any habitable niche in the Universe. Knowledge of terrestrial diversity thus informs us about possible life anywhere.

Just how diverse is Earth’s life? The fact is, we don’t know because the most diverse of Earth’s life is microbial and our understanding of microbial diversity is rudimentary. Historically, progress in microbiology has been impeded by a general requirement for culture of organisms in order to detect and identify them. Since most microorganisms in nature are not cultured readily or at all, the makeup of natural microbial diversity, much or most of terrestrial biodiversity, has been inaccessible. In the past two decades, increasing powerful molecular technologies have been used for culture independent surveys of natural microbial diversity, with DNA sequences and phylogenetic trees as metaphors for “diversity.” Studies of many environments, including some of the most seemingly inhospitable, have dramatically expanded the known extent of microbial phylogenetic diversity. The results also show that we are barely scratching the surface of an enormous unknown, the intertwined activities of a microbial world that established and maintains our biosphere.

About the Speaker:

Professor Norman Pace has published nearly 200 research articles in journals such as Science, Nature and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2001, he received a MacArthur Fellowship and the Selman A. Waksman Award in Microbiology by the National Academy of Sciences, considered the nation's highest award in microbiology. In 2007, he received the American Society for Microbiology's 2007 Abbott-ASM Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to the field of microbial ecology.

For more information and participation instructions, visit: http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/seminars/seminar_detail.cfm?ID=106

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Release Date: September 28, 2007
Notice of Intent: November 16, 2007
Proposals Due: January 15, 2008

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing a NASA Announcement of Opportunity (NNH07ZDA003O), for the Explorer Program: Small Explorers (SMEX) and Missions of Opportunity. NASA expects to select up to three SMEX missions to proceed into Phase B and subsequent mission phases. NASA desires to launch the first SMEX mission by late 2011 or 2012; the launch-by date for all SMEX missions is April 30, 2014.

One or more Missions of Opportunity, including participation in non-SMD space missions, small complete missions and new science missions using existing spacecraft, may also be selected. The science objectives covered by the AO include those of the SMD heliophysics research program and the astrophysics research program. Refer to the SMD World Wide Web homepage at http://science.hq.nasa.gov/ for further information about these programs.

Participation is open to all categories of organizations (U.S. and non-U.S), including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other Government agencies. This solicitation will be open from September 28, 2007, through January 15, 2008.

Upon the release date, the full text of the AO and all appendices will be available electronically via the World Wide Web site http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. A preproposal conference will be held November 6, 2007, in Washington, DC; see http://explorers.larc.nasa.gov/smexacq.html for details. Submission dates for PI pre-screening requests are Oct. 12, 26, November 16, and December 7, 2007.

Direct questions specifically regarding this solicitation to: Dr. Hashima Hasan; Explorer Program Scientist; Astrophysics Division; Mail Suite 3W39; Science Mission Directorate; National Aeronautics and Space Administration; Washington, DC 20546-0001; TEL: (202) 358-0692; E-mail: smexao@nasa.gov (subject line to read "SMEX AO").

This notice constitutes a NASA Research Announcement as contemplated in FAR 6.102(d)(2).

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The High-Lakes project researches the high lakes of South America to provide insight to Mars, as the area is considered analogous. Nathalie Cabrol, a Planetary Geologist, has been working on the High-Lakes project for several years. In previous blogs, we covered a director's colloquium that Cabrol recently gave at the center. In this blog, we will cover more of the details learned from the High Lakes Project project, which studies Licancabur, Aguas Calientes, Poquentica, Escalante, Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca lakes.

This year, Cabrol led a team of divers, which collected samples in the Licancabur lake at close to 20,000 feet elevation, "We had a suspension system while diving because there is so much muck. We had floats that were used to give our location away because we dived with O2 (oxygen) rebreather instead of conventional diving gear and those systems do not produce bubbles."

The samples gathered this year are being compared to samples that were taken along the shore of the same lake in 2005. Also what was studied was the distribution of bacteria in the lake, comparing samples collected at very shallow depths to the higher depths. What was discovered is that there is less diversity of life than what you would find in rivers at sea level; also a significant portion of the samples have yet to be identified. Twelve to 17 percent of the samples brought back are unknown bacteria, so they are currently being analyzed.

The temperature, the relative humidity and the precipitation are all factors used to evaluate the evaporation rate from the Licancabur lake. Using these calculations, the team came to the conclusion that water loss from evaporation was 14 times higher than water gain from precipitation. "If we were just looking at those numbers, the Licancabur lake would be gone in 10 years," said Cabrol. However, there are several factors that play into this and prolong the lake's lifetime. The presence of an ice cover from April to September helps reduce that loss by 75 percent. While for several years Cabrol noticed the Licancabur lake decrease, this year the lake level was up 50 centimeters because of more abundant snow fall during the winter. Still, Licancabur lake should disappear in the next 15 to 20 years, if the climate trend persists.

Look forward to more blogs about the High Lakes project. Specifically, what ultraviolet light can tell us about organisms under water? [Source: http://center.arc.nasa.gov/ ]

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Nathalie Cabrol, a planetary geologist for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) who works at NASA Ames and has been leading the High Lakes project for several years, has been documenting the changes in environment. In this blog, we will cover what has been learned specifically from the ultraviolet light at the lake. The High Lakes project covers research in the Licancabur, Aguas Calientes, Poquentica, Escalante, Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca lakes. Previous blogs on the High Lakes Project have detailed some of the findings from this research.

The ice cover present from April to September on Licancabur Lake, one of the lakes Cabrol studied, serves as shelter to life from ultraviolet radiation as well as keeping the temperature of this lake warmer. Cabrol has been researching the evolution of life throughout the years in these lakes whether they are protected or not from the ultraviolet radiation. The ice cover also created a significant rise in temperature, which meant that the bacterial life here was different. Different depths of the lake have different types of life. As the depth increased, the amount of zooplankton increased as well. At the altitude of the Licancabur lake, ultraviolet radiation is extremely high (216 percent that of sea level). The lakes actually receive a little more than 2.5 times the total ultraviolet A and B (UVA + UVB) of Mars. "You have to remember that we still have an atmosphere on top of us compared to Mars, so it's a lot. UVB at Licancabur is half what Mars receives," said Cabrol.

UVA and UVB become less damaging to life as the depth of the water increases. However, they damage life in different ways. UVA causes indirect damage while UVB damages the DNA and protein directly. While collecting samples, Cabrol paid particular attention to which samples had been exposed to UVA and UVB radiation. Laguna Blanca, another one of the lakes studied, shows signs of life in colonies close to the shoreline that are not in the water so this life is never sheltered to the damaging ultraviolet sun rays and yet manages to survive. [Source: http://center.arc.nasa.gov/ ]