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Promoting International Collaboration: Deep Crustal Biosphere Research
Carbon Cycling Workshop Attendees 2011 (photo courtesy of Walter Muller)
Over the past decade great progress has been made in characterizing the abundance and diversity of the deep subsurface biosphere, but many mysteries remain to be answered when it comes to the in situ processes of growth, biogeochemical cycling, evolution and death of subsurface microorganisms. The workshop, New Horizons for International Investigations into Carbon Cycling in the Deep Crustal Biosphere, brought together scientists from Canada, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the United States and South Africa to explore new approaches for retrieving geochemical, isotopic, metagenomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and proteomic information from the deep subsurface...
February 15, 2011 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice -
Science of the Springs
Science of the Springs: Astrobiology in Yellowstone National Park provides an overview of the connection between astrobiology research and Yellowstone National Park. The booklet can be used by educators of all kinds, YNP visitors as they tour sites within the Park, or armchair travelers who desire to learn more about why astrobiologists believe the extreme life found in Yellowstone’s geothermal features may unlock clues to the origin of life on this planet and the existence of life beyond Earth.
The booklet also features QR codes, through which readers with a Web-enabled smart phone can access additional multimedia...
February 9, 2011 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice -
Astrobiology Graphic Novel
The first issue of the Astrobiology Graphic Novel is now available! Request your copy today, or download the pdf or the mobile app! Through fantastic original artwork and a compelling storyline, the novel chronicles the origin and evolution of astrobiology itself – tracing its roots from early cave paintings, through speculations of ancient Greek philosophers on the existence of other worlds, to contributions from more modern scientists such as Huygens, Galileo, Oparin, Haldane, Miller, Urey, Franklin, Watson, Crick, and Sagan. It goes on to explain how shortly after NASA was created...
February 8, 2011 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice -
Unexpected Exoskeleton Remnants
Preserved eurypterid fossil. Credit: University of Wisconsin
New research supported in part by the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) is changing the way we understand the organic fossil record of Earth. The study shows that organisms evolved to use a structural material known as ‘chitin-protein complex’ much earlier than previously believed. Chitin fibers embedded in a matrix of protein make up the outer layer of exoskeletons in arthropods. Microorganisms quickly degrade this material when an organisms dies, so identifying the chitin-protein material in fossils from the early Paleozoic was a stunning find.Source: [Carnegie Mellon]
February 8, 2011 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal -
A Six-Planet System
Astronomers have used NASA’s Kepler mission to identify a remarkable planetary system. The host star (Keper-11) has six planets in orbit around it, including five small planets. The discovery also validates a new method that astronomers can use to measure the masses of planets, which could aid in the search for habitable worlds around distant stars.Source: [astrobio.net]
February 2, 2011 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal -
No Methane Emission from the Exoplanet HD189733b
Telescopes on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i. In the center left are the Subaru telescope, the Keck telescopes and the IRTF. Behind, on the summit ridge, are the CFHT, Gemini north telescope, UH 2.2-meter telescope, UKIRT, and UH 0.6-meter telescope. Credit: University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy, Richard Wainscoat.
A new study from NAI’s NASA Goddard Space Flight Center team and their colleagues used the Keck II telescope in Hawai’i to observe the exoplanet HD189733b. The team attempted to confirm prior observations of a remarkably bright methane emission from the planet, but new high-resolution data and models exclude an astrophysical source for the observation. They conclude instead that the signal most closely matches the signature of water vapor from the Earth’s atmosphere, and the previous detection is most likely a data reduction artifact. Their paper appears in a recent issue of the...
Source: [Link]
January 20, 2011 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice -
More Asteroids Could Have Made Life's Ingredients
This artist's concept uses hands to illustrate the left and right-handed versions of the amino acid isovaline. Credit: NASA/Mary Pat Hrybyk-Keith.
A wider range of asteroids were capable of creating the kind of amino acids used by life on Earth, according to new NASA research.
Amino acids are used to build proteins, which are used by life to make structures like hair and nails, and to speed up or regulate chemical reactions. Amino acids come in two varieties that are mirror images of each other, like your hands. Life on Earth uses the left-handed kind exclusively. Since life based on right-handed amino acids would presumably work fine, scientists are trying to find out why Earth-based life favored left-handed...
Source: [NASA Press Release]
January 19, 2011 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice