Dr. Zach Adam was selected as the 2017 Arizona State University Origins Project Postdoctoral Lectureship Recipient. This award will support Zach’s research and allow him to travel to ASU to deliver both academic and public lectures. Congratulations and good luck to Zach! [click here to read the full press release from ASU]
Read moreZach Adam recently published a paper titled “Temperature oscillations near natural nuclear reactor cores and the potential for prebiotic oligomer synthesis” in the journal Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres. Below is a short summary of his idea. This paper is about how complex geological energy transfer processes could have been on the early Earth. Most people don’t automatically think about nuclear fission reactors when they think about radioactive rocks. One reason is because we have this idea that […]
Read moreThis month we feature Lauren Seyler, a research scientist with a specialty in oceanography and microbial ecology who recently joined our team. BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself. Lauren: I got my Ph.D. in biological oceanography from Rutgers University in 2015. My dissertation concerned the ecology and metabolic activity of marine archaea and the role of these microorganisms in the marine carbon cycle, and focused on using stable isotope probing (SIP) to track the uptake and incorporation of […]
Read moreTwo BMSIS scientists have been selected for a 2015 DDF award through the NASA Astrobiology Institute! Dr. Laurie Barge (JPL) has been selected for her proposal, “Catalytic Diversity at the Emergence of Metabolism: Hydrothermal Carbon Dioxide Reduction on Fe/Ni-Sulfide Catalysts.” Dr. Barge will lead a team of investigators to simulate hydrothermal vent systems in an effort to understand the potential role of these environments in the origin of life. Eddie Schwieterman (University of Washington) has been selected for his proposal, […]
Read moreOur “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. […]
Read moreDr. 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? […]
Read moreDr. 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”]
Read moreUnderstanding the origin of life remains an elusive quest of astrobiology, and uniting the approaches of physics, chemistry, and biology remains one of the challenges of this interdisciplinary field. Dr. Sara Walker is part of the science organizing committee for the Carnegie science workshop titled “Re-conceptualizing the Origin of Life“, to be held November 9-13, 2015 in Washington, DC. Abstracts are due August 1st, and attendance is limited to 100 participants. [visit the conference website for Re-conceptualizing the Origin of […]
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 moreOur “BlueSciCon” podcast for April features a conversation with Dr. Sara Walker about her recent essay titled “The Descent of Math“. Scientists and philosophers have often remarked that it seems incredible that we are able to understand the universe at all. Our civilization’s ability to manipulate the physical environment has allowed us to create possibilities that were never before seen in history. In her essay for FQXi’s current contest, Dr. Walker discusses the possibility that evolutionary processes tend toward producing […]
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