Astrobiologists hypothesize that shallow water, not deep water, may have cradled the planet's first life; that the dark, carbon-poor depths offered little energy to emerging life. But the newfound abundance of seafloor microbes makes it theoretically possible that early life thrived - and maybe even began - on the seafloor. "Some might even favor the deep ocean for the emergence of life since it was a bastion of stability compared with the surface, which was constantly being blasted by comets and other objects," suggests study author and NAI member Katrina Edwards in the University of Southern California press release. For images and resources, see NSF's press page. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's Marine Biological Laboratory Team continue their study of the deep biosphere, reporting the latest results in Nature. This new study reveals that bacterial communities dwelling on ocean-bottom rocks are more abundant and diverse than previously thought, especially relative to the overlying water column. The microbes appear to ?feed? on the oceanic crust through seawater-rock alteration reactions involving the oxidation and hydration of glassy basalt. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear Colleague, The National Science Foundation's Assembling the Tree of Life (AToL) solicitation has recently been renewed and updated (see the program solicitation, NSF 08-515; http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08515). As in the past, the AToL competition will support creative and innovative research to resolve evolutionary relationships for large groups of organisms. The program also supports research on theory and methods and tool development for these large scale phylogenetic investigations. With this letter we wish to draw your attention to several new and/or enhanced areas of interest. Proposals in the following areas are especially encouraged:

Continue reading "NSF Dear Colleague Letter - Assembling the Tree of Life Solicitation" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 819-823

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0207

A key challenge in Astrobiology is to comprehend life and its interaction with the environment at a level sufficiently fundamental to embrace the alternative biochemistries that may be encountered in a search for life elsewhere (Baross et al., 2007).

Continue reading "A "Follow the Energy" Approach for Astrobiology" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 1023-1032

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0091

The shallow habitable region of cratonal crust deforms with a strain rate on the order of 1019 s1. This is rapid enough that small seismic events are expected on one-kilometer spatial scales and one-million-year timescales. Rock faulting has the potential to release batches of biological substrate, such as dissolved H2, permitting transient blooms.

Continue reading "Did Earthquakes Keep the Early Crust Habitable?" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 1006-1022

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0156

Europa is a prime target for astrobiology. The presence of a global subsurface liquid water ocean and a composition likely to contain a suite of biogenic elements make it a compelling world in the search for a second origin of life. Critical to these factors, however, may be the availability of energy for biological processes on Europa.

Continue reading "Energy, Chemical Disequilibrium, and Geological Constraints on Europa" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 987-1005

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0075

We examine means for driving hydrothermal activity in extraterrestrial oceans on planets and satellites of less than one Earth mass, with implications for sustaining a low level of biological activity over geological timescales. Assuming ocean planets have olivine-dominated lithospheres, a model for cooling-induced thermal cracking shows how variation in planet size and internal thermal energy may drive variation in the dominant type of hydrothermal system--for example, high or low temperature system or chemically driven system.

Continue reading "Hydrothermal Systems in Small Ocean Planets" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 873-890

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2007.0127

Formate, a simple organic acid known to support chemotrophic hyperthermophiles, is found in hot springs of varying temperature and pH. However, it is not yet known how metabolic strategies that use formate could contribute to primary productivity in hydrothermal ecosystems. In an effort to provide a quantitative framework for assessing the role of formate metabolism, concentration data for dissolved formate and many other solutes in samples from Yellowstone hot springs were used, together with data for coexisting gas compositions, to evaluate the overall Gibbs energy for many reactions involving formate oxidation or reduction.

Continue reading "Formate as an Energy Source for Microbial Metabolism in Chemosynthetic Zones of Hydrothermal Ecosystems" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Astrobiology December 2007, 7(6): 852-872

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/ast.2006.0066

There are growing indications that life began in a radioactive beach environment. A geologic framework for the origin or support of life in a Hadean heavy mineral placer beach has been developed, based on the unique chemical properties of the lower-electronic actinides, which act as nuclear fissile and fertile fuels, radiolytic energy sources, oligomer catalysts, and coordinating ions (along with mineralogically associated lanthanides) for prototypical prebiotic homonuclear and dinuclear metalloenzymes.

Continue reading "Actinides and Life's Origins" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's University of Hawai'i Team and their colleagues have a new paper in Geobiology reviewing recent work on the climatic, geochemical, and ecological events that preceded animal fossils, considering their portent for metazoan evolution. They also consider recent published research on the nature and chronology of the earliest fossil record of metazoans, and on the molecular-based analysis that yielded dates older than the last 35 million years of the Precambrian for the appearance of major animal groups.

[Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI's Astrobiology Drilling Program supported researchers in 2004 to obtain subsurface core samples from the Hamersley Basin in Western Australia. Those samples, representing the time just before the Great Oxidation Event, have been analyzed, and two research papers detailing the results (Anbar, et al. and Kaufman, et al.) appear in September 28, 2007 issue of Science. Both groups found unexpected, correlated changes that reveal the presence of small but significant amounts of O2 in the environment 2.5 billion years ago, ~50-100 milion years before the Great Oxidation Event, and a shift from lower O2 abundance prior to that time. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speaker: Ariel Anbar (Arizona State University)
Date/Time: Monday, November 5, 2007 11:00 AM PST

Abstract: Many lines of evidence point to a rapid rise of atmospheric O2 between 2.45 - 2.22 billion years ago (Ga), a transition often referred to as the Great Oxidation Event (GOE). The cause of the GOE is unknown. It could have been an immediate consequence of the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis. Alternatively, O2 biogenesis may be ancient and the GOE a consequence of an abiotic shift in the balance of oxidants and reductants at the Earth's surface that crossed a critical threshold at that time. In the latter case, oxygenic photosynthesis could have evolved long before the GOE. This debate can be addressed by looking for evidence of localized or short-lived concentrations of O2 before 2.45 Ga.

Continue reading "NAI Director's Seminar: "A Whiff of Oxygen before the Great Oxidation Event"" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Researchers from NAI's Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have a paper in Nature describing evidence that Earth's Mesoarchean atmosphere (3.2 and 2.8 Gya) possessed very low amounts oxygen. These findings contrast with prior claims that Earth's atmosphere underwent its first rise in oxygen during the Mesoarchean, and indicate that oxygen first rose above parts per million levels sometime between 2.45 and 2.4 billion years ago. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Biomarkers in rocks prior to the rise in Earth's atmospheric oxygen 2.5 billion years ago show cyanobacteria released oxygen at the same levels as today. What was happening to that oxygen? A new paper in Nature from NAI's Penn State Team proposes that the rise of atmospheric oxygen occurred because the predominant sink for oxygen--enhanced submarine volcanism--was abruptly and permanently diminished during the Archaean-Proterozoic transition by a shift from predominantly submarine volcanism to a mix of subaerial and submarine volcanism.

Source: NAI Newsletter

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "NAI Director's Seminar: "Life in the Universe: The Expanding World of Microbial Diversity"" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This new video from JPL shows how NASA astrobiologists are gathering exciting clues that will help them pick the best spots to search for possible signs of life beyond Earth. http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/videos/phoenix/phx20070724/ [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 6, 2007 to August 10, 2007

Each summer, NAI's Marine Biological Laboratory Team offers a one-week workshop for middle and high school teachers focusing on activities that can be incorporated into existing classroom curricula. Resident and visiting scientists from the Woods Hole community present teachers with background information and updates on current research developments on a variety of topics related to the importance of microbes and microbial processes in the biosphere.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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.

Continue reading "The National Academies Search for 'weird' life" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI scientists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington Team and their colleagues have a new paper in Geology outlining their process in resolving the mysterious identity of the Devonian fossil organism Prototaxities as a fungus. The team analyzed carbon isotopic ratios of the fossil relative to plants that lived in the same environment 400 million years ago. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UW Seminar: Four Billion Years of Climate Change (Lessons from the Precambrian): From Oxygen Poisoning to Snowballs & True Polar Wander Presenter: Joe Kirschvink

Date/Time: 5/29/2007 02:30 PM PDT

Continue reading "Seminar" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Multidisciplinary work from members of NAI's SETI Institute Team and a host of collaborators across the NAI re-examines what is known at present about the potential for a terrestrial planet forming within, or migrating into, the classic liquid–surface–water habitable zone close to an M dwarf star. Their new paper, published in the current issue of Astrobiology, presents the summary conclusions of an interdisciplinary workshop sponsored by NAI and convened at the SETI Institute in 2005. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Differently colored plants may live on extra-solar planets, according to two new papers in the current issue of Astrobiology authored by members of NAI's Virtual Planetary Laboratory Alumni Team and their colleagues. They took previously simulated planetary atmospheric compositions for Earth-like planets orbiting various star types (including M stars), generated spectra, and found that photosynthetic pigments may peak in absorbance in the blue for some star types, and red-orange and near-infrared for others. Their results also suggest that, under water, organisms would still be able to survive ultraviolet flares from young M stars and acquire adequate light for growth - which greatly increases the scope for habitability in these systems. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Search for Habitable Planets Outside Earth's Solar System in Astrobiology

"Which planets outside of Earth's Solar System are most likely to be capable of supporting life is a question that will be the focus of both a NASA-sponsored workshop later this year and a special collection of papers in the Spring 2007 (Volume 7, Number 1) issue of Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc."

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Special session at the 210th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu, Hawaii
Thursday May 31 (Morning) Convenors: Nader Haghighipour and Eric Gaidos (University of Hawaii NAI Lead Team)

Continue reading "Hot Earths: Formation, Detection and Structure" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI's Marine Biological Laboratory and Carnegie Institution of Washington Teams are contributing authors on a new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters presenting a new model for the evolution of Proterozoic deep seawater composition based on rare earth elements. Their data suggest transitional, suboxic conditions in the deep ocean (vs. sulfidic), which likely limited nutrient concentrations in seawater and, consequently, may have constrained biological evolution. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Special Session "Microbially mediated processes governing the redox cycling of metals" at the 2007 Goldschmidt Conference, Cologne (Germany) Session Organizers: Colleen Hansel, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University Andreas Kappler, Center for Applied Geoscience, University of Tübingen

Continue reading "Microbially mediated processes governing the redox cycling of metals" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 8:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dr. Joshua Lederberg, a Nobel-winning microbiolgist whose advice helped create NASA's early biology programs, will receive the Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.

Continue reading "NASA Advisor on the Search for Life to Receive Medal of Freedom" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Robert Hazen, from NAI's Carnegie Institution of Washington Team, published his 2005 Presidential Address to the Mineralogical Society of America in this month's American Mineralogist.

Continue reading "Mineral Surfaces and Life" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The December 2006 issue of Geobiology is a collection of papers focusing on the history of Earth's biogeochemistry, from the earliest sedimentary rocks in Greenland to the late Proterozoic. The rise of atmospheric oxygen provides a thematic link.

Continue reading "Oxygen and Life in the Precambrian" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NAI has approved funding for the development of a new, state-of-the-art facility capable of recreating past atmospheric and oceanic conditions, to be called VAL, the Variable Atmospheres Laboratory. Capable of simulating various combinations of oxygen, carbon dioxide, temperature, and hydrogen sulfide levels, this facility will be able to test new hypotheses for the cause of some of the Earth's major mass extinction events - such as the Permian and Triassic mass extinctions.

Continue reading "NAI Researchers to Recreate Conditions of the Early Earth" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Scientists from NAI's Penn State Team have contributed to a new book entitled "Neoproterozoic Geobiology and Paleobiology," Xiao, Shuhai; Kaufman, Alan J. (Eds.). Their article, entitled "Molecular Timescale of Evolution in the Proterozoic," is one of many sections exploring topics from the rise in complexity of life, to phylogeny and timing of prokaryotes and eukaryotes, the colonization of land by plants and fungi, global glaciations, and "oxygen and the Cambrian explosion."

Continue reading "New Book on the Neoproterozoic" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society (B). Organised and edited by Charles Cockell, Sydney Leach and Ian Smith Published August 2006

Continue reading "Conditions for the Emergence of Life on the Early Earth: Special Issue Special Issue" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Speakers: Sean Raymond (University of Colorado) and Avi Mandell (Goddard Space Flight Center) Date/Time: Monday, November 27, 2006 11AM PST

Continue reading "NAI Director's Seminar 11/27: Formation of Habitable Planetary Systems: Are We Normal?" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 9:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Peter Ward from NAI's Alumni Team at the University of Washington and his collaborators have a new paper out in PNAS providing supportive evidence for Romer's Gap. Their results link this gap in vertebrate terrestrialization with a low atmospheric oxygen interval. This paper supports Ward's new book on the evolution of effective respiratory systems, entitled "Out of Thin Air." [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Join us for the next University of Washington Astrobiology Seminar! David Deamer of U.C. Santa Cruz will be speaking on the topic "Self-assembly Processes in the Prebiotic Environment"

Continue reading "University of Washington Seminar: Self-assembly Processes in the Prebiotic Environment" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Join us for the next University of Washington Astrobiology Seminar! George Shaw of Union College will be speaking on the topic "A (not so) Brief History of Carbon on Earth." Date/Time: Tuesday, October 24, 2:30PM PDT (11:30am HT/3:30pm MDT/4:30pm CDT/5:30pm EDT)

Continue reading "University of Washington Seminar: A (not so) Brief History of Carbon on Earth" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are providing matching support towards the study of the ancient rock record of the early Earth, between 2.0 and 2.5 billion years ago. This period represents one of the critical transitions in the Earth's history as it reflects the emergence of the modern aerobic, or oxygen-rich Earth system.

Continue reading "NAI and NSF Provide Joint Funding to Understand the Environment of the Earth More Than 2 Billion Years Ago" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With NAI support, the Evolutionary Genomics Focus Group hosted a one-day symposium on Friday, May 26th, at Arizona State University. Blair Hedges (Penn State) organized the event, which featured 15 speakers from the U.S. and Europe and more than 100 participants, during the annual meeting for the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

Continue reading "Discovering the Timetree of Life Symposium" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 12:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In conjunction with the 2006 GRC Origin of Life conference, organizers are offering the first Origin of Life Graduate Research Seminar. The Graduate Research Seminar is designed to identify top young talent in diverse fields and encourage them to present cutting edge research in origin of life contexts.

Continue reading "Graduate Research Seminar - Origin of Life (Gordon Research Conference)" »

Posted by Keith Cowing at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reviewed this week in Science, Robert Hazen's new work, "Genesis: The Search for Life's Origin" was published recently with Joseph Henry Press. Hazen, from NAI's Carnegie Institution of Washington Team, has woven together a look at life in the Geophysical Laboratory and the history of origin of life theory and debate for an "...engaging, sometimes dramatic tale." To read the review, go here. [Source: NAI Newsletter]

Posted by Keith Cowing at 11:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Applications are now being accepted for the 2006 Gordon Research Conference on the Origin of Life, at Bates College, Maine, July 23-28. Please visit http://www.grc.org/programs/2006/origin.htm for more information. Due to the the first Origin of Life Graduate Research Seminar being held in conjunction with the regular GRC OOL, a significant response is anticipated. Applicants are encouraged to apply early.

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

20 - 21 June, 2006, Shine Dome, Australian Academy of Science, Gordon Street, Acton, ACT

This conference is convened to pay tribute to the work of Paul Davies, following the occasion of his 60th birthday (4.22.2006). Davies' publications explore pathways starting from the Big Bang, subatomic particles, atoms and molecules, through to the origin of life and intelligence, realms of human consciousness and spiritual dimensions, and leading to the motto "We were meant to be here." (Davies, 1998). For more information: http://www.manningclark.org.au/events/stars/index.html

Posted by Keith Cowing at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)