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 moreWe are pleased to announce that the first volume of the Blue Marble Space Short Story Collection is now available! This volume, titled Tales From Spaceship Earth, includes stories from six of our scientists and is the first in an ongoing series of science-informed fiction. This collection of stories reflects an intersection of each author’s knowledge of science and vision of the future. These unique perspectives range from the near-term evolution of the space station program, to the beginnings of […]
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 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 moreEvery month, we’ll highlight a BMSIS scientist and feature them on this page. This month, Zach Adam answers our questions: BMSIS: Please tell us a little about yourself Zach Adam: I’m a PhD student studying geology at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, but before that I worked as an aerospace engineer for about 3 years. Each week, as I saw that more and more planets were being found outside our solar system by the Kepler spacecraft, I felt that my day-to-day […]
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