By Rabeea Rasheed When I think of the Earth, I think about it as one strange rock orbiting in space around an average star. Earth makes me think about my place in the universe, forcing me to seek answers to some of the biggest questions – questions about our existence and mysteries of the universe such as what is the possibility of life somewhere out there, in the great unknown; if it exists, what would be the nature of that […]
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Joshua Kreisel shares his ethics & society case study, which he completed as part of our Young Scientist Program. The topics of evolution, creationism, and their place in the public school curriculum have been one of contentious debate for decades. There are many contesting viewpoints on this issue, ranging from teaching both theories on the origins of life, neither of them, or just one. To address all of these arguments would be beyond the scope of this paper. Instead, the case […]
Read morePaleogenomics involves the study of ancient genomic histories to understand the mechanisms of evolution. Dr. Betul Kacar’s experimental evolution research involves the application of ancient protients into modern E. coli to track how the microbes adapt to these changes. Dr. Kacar’s work was recently featured in Quanta magazine and represents a critical step in understanding the processes by which life evolves. [read the article at Quanta magazine]
Read moreDr. Laurie Barge recently discussed her research on self-organizing processes at the University of Washington astrobiology seminar. Processes that tend toward self-organization are of interest to astrobiologists like Dr. Barge, who seek to understand conditions that could have led to the origin of life in Earth’s early history. Dr. Barge’s research focuses on understanding the chemical environments that exist in seafloor hydrothermal systems, where out-of-equilibrium conditions could have provided the right mix of ingredients for life to begin. [watch a […]
Read moreDr. Sara Walker Beverage: Seltzer Water Listen: [mp3 download] Questions to consider: Why does the universe seem comprehensible, and why should beings like us be here to comprehend it? How does our knowledge about the laws of physics permit us to access new physical states of the world? Do other creatures–such as birds or beavers–engage in knowledge manipulation of their environments? Are there early examples of the emergence of math, prior to the evolution of humans? Is the development of […]
Read moreA new astrobiology textbook is scheduled for publication in October and includes chapters written by our own Dr. Jim Cleaves and Dr. Sara Walker! The book is titled Astrobiology: An Evolutionary Approach and will be released by CRC Press on October 2, 2014. The book provides an interdisciplinary cross-section of many contemporary issues in astrobiology and could form the basis for an undergraduate or graduate course. Pre-orders can be placed now on Amazon.com!
Read moreOur own Dr. Rika Anderson was selected for the prestigious NASA Astrobiology Postdoctoral Program for her proposal titled, “Unraveling the impact of ecological selection pressures on the archaeal pangenome”. In her research, Dr. Anderson seeks to understand the evolution of microorganisms and how they adapt to fill new ecological niches. She will compare the genomics of organisms adapted to extreme environments by studying several species collected from Yellowstone National Park. The goal of this research is to understand the factors […]
Read moreDr. Betül Kaçar Beverage: Dolcetto Rosso (United States – California) Handout: [click here] Listen: [mp3 download] [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BwBMSIS_9_JUN72012.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]
Read moreZach Adam Beverage: Lion Stout (Sri Lanka) Handout: [click here] Listen: [mp3 download] [ca_audio url=”http://beerwith.bmsis.org/BwBMSIS_8_MAY32012.mp3″ width=”500″ height=”27″ css_class=”codeart-google-mp3-player”]
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