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. […]
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