Synthetic Biology Ethics

Palmer Fliss shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. When one hears the phrase “synthetic biology”, images of clone soldiers, designer babies, cyborgs, and GMOs spring to mind. With the cost of genetic sequencing dropping precipitously thanks to advances in the technology, coupled with the rise of increasingly specific genetic manipulation techniques, synthetic biology has developed from a field only touched upon in science fiction to a real scientific field […]

November 25, 2015

Podcast: Genomes, the Fossil Record and More

Our “BlueSciCon” podcast for September features a conversation with Dr. Betul Kacar titled “Genomes, the fossil record and more: Accessing the artifacts of Earth’s earliest evolutionary history“. Living organisms today can help us understand the fossil record, as the genetic sequences of life today provides a direct link to the past. Experimental evolutionary biologists like Dr. Kacar are able to study microorganisms through hundreds and thousands of generations to understand how evolutionary selection pressures are directly expressed in these populations. […]

November 25, 2015

How to Colonize Mars

Several national space agencies and private corporations are eyeing the red planet as a target for eventual human settlement, but the language of the Outer Space Treaty creates some ambiguity about whether or not colonizing Mars is permissible. BMSIS Young Scientist Sara Bruhns discusses her ideas about “How to Colonize Mars” on the political science blog of the Guardian. Exclusive economic rights that forgo claims to sovereignty could be one approach, although revisiting the Outer Space Treaty may ultimately be […]

November 19, 2015

BlueSciCon Episode 43: Stars without wars – Institutionalization of space research and its role in the international security environment

Guest: Haritina Mogosanu
Questions to consider:
What factors allow an institution like NASA to enable both space research and international security?
What is meant by the institutionalization of space research?
What historical factors from the space race are still lingering today?
How should nations balance the sharing of space resources with security concerns?

November 15, 2015

Risk of Radiation Exposure to Astronauts

Anuti Joshi shares her ethics & society case study, which she completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Astronauts are inevitably exposed to radiation whether they are trapped solar protons or Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR). Heavy ions produce distinct types of biological damage to cells and tissues compared to X-rays or gamma-rays. An increase in the Solar Proton Event (SPE) or GCR can cause a greater chance of DNA mutation and therefore an even higher probability of contracting cancer. […]

October 27, 2015

BlueSciCon Episode 42: Temperature oscillations near natural nuclear reactor cores and the potential for prebiotic oligomer synthesis

Dr. Zach Adam Listen: [mp3 download] Questions to consider: What are natural nuclear reactors? What planetary conditions allow natural nuclear reactors to occur? What is so special about natural nuclear reactors with respect to the origins of life? There are already lots of theories about geological/atmospheric settings for origins of life, why do we need another one and how is it different? How is the energy of a reactor different from the energy of, say, lightning bolts or UV radiation? […]

October 20, 2015

Outreach in India: Talk About Space

BMSIS Young Scientist Anuti Joshi engaged a group of fifteen engineering teachers at Saraswati College of Engineering in Mumbai, India. Anuti’s engagement was part of her Communications requirements for the BMSIS Young Scientist Program. BMSIS is continuously committed to engaging the public in the wonders of Space Exploration and the Earth System. Our Young Scientist Program continues this tradition by engaging local communities around the world. Read Anuti’s impressions below: I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with […]

October 16, 2015

Body, Spirit, and the Emptiness of Space

Mohit Nalavadi shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. Characterized by the belief that we can plan and create a better world through action, the 1960s approach to human progress may soon meet us again in 15 years. NASA, the ESA, SpaceX and others agree that the 2030s is the realistic decade in which we send humans to Mars. Inevitably, this in consequence will reinvigorate our primal instinct of exploration […]

September 9, 2015

Dr. Craig Hargrove Leads Mission to Moon

A CubeSat mission led by Dr. Craig Hardgrove was recently selected by NASA as part of its ongoing program of lunar exploration. About the size of a shoebox, the LunaH-Map mission is being developed by a team at Arizona State University with a goal of producing a detailed map of water ice deposits across the moon. CubeSat missions provide low-cost opportunities for investigators to develop their own space-based experiments, and the selection of LunaH-Map represents a big step forward for […]

September 3, 2015

BlueSciCon Episode 41: Genomes, the fossil record and more: Accessing the artifacts of Earth’s earliest evolutionary history

Dr. Betul Kacar Listen: [mp3 download] Questions to consider: What is experimental evolution? How do living microorganisms help us to better understand the fossil record? What is involved in “reconstructing” a genome? How do we understand the connection between protein functions and organism behavior? [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BlueSciCon_41_SEP2015.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]

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