Moon Samples Found to Contain Water

Using new techniques, scientists from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have discovered for the first time that tiny beads of volcanic glasses collected from two Apollo missions to the Moon contain water. The researchers found that, contrary to previous thought, water was not entirely vaporized in the violent events that formed the Moon. The new study suggests that the water came from the Moon’s interior and was delivered to the surface...

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July 18, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

NAI Scientist Receives Guggenheim Fellowship

James Farquhar from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team is a recipient of the prestigious 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowships are extremely competitive and are given to advanced professionals in many fields. Please join NAI in congratulating James!!!

With the support of his Guggenheim Fellowship, James will be taking sabbatical leave to work with Don Canfield (University of Southern Denmark). Farquhar and Canfield will be extending their research on understanding the ways that...

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June 25, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Extraterrestrial Nucleobases in the Murchison Meteorite

A recent study in Earth and Planetary Science Letters from NAI’s Teams at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and University of Wisconsin, shows that nucleic acids of extraterrestrial origin are present in the Murchison meteorite. Carbon-rich meteorites such as the Murchison are thought to be responsible for delivering biologically-relevant organic material to the young Earth. These results demonstrate that the nucleic acids discovered in the...

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June 25, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Organic Haze, Glaciations and Multiple Sulfur Isotopes in the Mid-Archean Era

Shawn D. Domagal-Goldman (NAI PSU team), J.F. Kasting (NAI PSU team), D. T. Johnson (NAI CIW team), and J. Farquhar (NAI CIW and UCLA teams) have just published an article Organic haze, glaciations and multiple sulfur isotopes in the Mid-Archean era in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The team used sulfur isotope signatures within ancient sediments and a photochemical model of sulfur dioxide photolysis to interpret the evolution of...

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May 9, 2008 / Posted by: Marco Boldt

Meteorites a Rich Source for Primordial Soup

Scientists from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have a new paper in Meteoritics and Planetary Science detailing their discovery of amino acids in two meteorites at concentrations ten times higher than levels previously measured in other similar meteorites. The result suggests that the early solar system was far richer in the organic building blocks of life than scientists had thought, and that fallout from space may have spiked...

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March 13, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Novel Proteobacteria in Microbial Mats at Loihi Seamount

With support from NAI Teams at the Carnegie Institution of Washington and UC Berkeley, researchers at the American Type Culture Collection and their colleagues have a new paper in PLOS One describing a novel lineage of proteobacteria which are dominant in iron-rich hydrothermal vent sites on the Loihi Seamount near Hawai’i. They form a unique morphological structure which could serve as a fossil biomarker.

November 13, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Oxygen in Earth's Early Atmosphere

Researchers from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have a paper in this week’s Nature describing evidence that Earth’s Mesoarchean atmosphere (3.2 and 2.8 Gya) possessed very low amounts oxygen. These findings contrast with prior claims that Earth’s atmosphere underwent its first rise in oxygen during the Mesoarchean, and indicate that oxygen first rose above parts per million levels sometime between 2.45 and 2.4 billion years ago.

October 10, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Astrobiotechnology Chip Successfully Launched

Andrew Steele of NAI’s CIW Team, a leader in astrobiotechnology for many years, is behind this current experiment, called the “Life Marker Chip.” A collection of immunoassays which have the potential to detect trace levels of biomarkers in the Martian environment, it launched earlier this week on ESA’s BIOPAN 6 experiment platform. The craft will spend 12 days in orbit, during which time the onboard experiments, including the Chip, will be exposed to microgravity.

September 19, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

NAI Publication Receives Jubilee Award

A recent publication by members of the NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team was honored this week with the Jubilee Award from the Geological Society of South Africa. The team’s research, published in the South African Journal of Geology, concerned sulfur isotopes in ancient rocks in South Africa. Congratulations CIW!

June 20, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

MESSENGER Probes Venus' Atmosphere

On route to Mercury, the MESSENGER spacecraft is doing a flyby of Venus where, on June 5th, it sent out a laser beam to measure the location of Venus’ cloud decks. “We are treating the Venus flyby as a full dress rehearsal for the first flyby of Mercury in January 2008,” says Sean Solomon, PI of both the MESSENGER mission and NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team.

June 6, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Ancient Organism Verified as Fungus

NAI scientists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington Team and their colleagues have a new paper in Geology outlining their process in resolving the mysterious identity of the Devonian fossil organism Prototaxities as a fungus. The team analyzed carbon isotopic ratios of the fossil relative to plants that lived in the same environment 400 million years ago.

May 1, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Lab-On-a-Chip Works Aboard the ISS

The Lab-On-a-Chip Application Development Portable Test System (LOCAD-PTS) is an instrument developed by the NAI Carnegie Institution of Washington Team over the past 4 years in collaboration with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Charles River Labs. LOCAD-PTS was flown to and recently tested aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to enable crew to monitor microorganisms and potentially hazardous chemicals within the cabin environment. The successful test is the first demonstration of complete...

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April 8, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

A New Model for the Early Ocean

NAI’s Marine Biological Laboratory and Carnegie Institution of Washington Teams are contributing authors on a new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters presenting a new model for the evolution of Proterozoic deep seawater composition based on rare earth elements. Their data suggest transitional, suboxic conditions in the deep ocean (vs. sulfidic), which likely limited nutrient concentrations in seawater and, consequently, may have constrained biological evolution.

March 4, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Spectra of Two Extrasolar Planets

Researchers from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Teams have a new paper in Nature describing the infrared spectrum of exoplanet HD 209458b as obtained by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists from NAI’s University of Arizona and Alumni Virtual Planetary Laboratory Teams are contributing authors on a similar paper in Astrophysical Journal Letters which details the spectrum of exoplanet HD 189733b. Both sets of results show relatively flat spectra, with...

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February 25, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Greenhouse Gases on Early Earth Helped Keep It Warm

A team of researchers including members of NAI’s University of Colorado, Boulder Team have provided the first direct field evidence supporting the theory that high concentrations of greenhouse gases could have helped avoid global freezing on the early Earth. They analyzed iron carbonates from 3.75-3.8 billion year old rocks in northern Québec, and conclude that the atmosphere of early Earth contained high levels of CO2. Their paper appears in a recent issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

February 6, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Stardust Sample Analysis

A special issue of Science (Dec 15) includes several papers reporting on various aspects of Stardust sample analysis including an organics survey, isotopic and elemental compositions, mineralogy and petrology, and infrared spectroscopy. Many NAI researchers contributed to this comprehensive analytical campaign, including members of NAI’s Teams at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA’s Ames Research Center and Goddard Space Flight Center, and NAI’s Alumni Team at the University of Washington.

December 13, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Found: A Hyperthermophilic Nitrogen Fixer

Researchers from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have published in Science their findings of a novel archaeon who’s ability to fix nitrogen at 92 degrees Celcius has officially increased the upper limit of biological nitrogen fixation by 28 degrees Celcius. The hyperthermophilic methanogen was isolated from a hydrothermal vent. Thier findings could reveal a broader range of conditions for life in the subseafloor biosphere.

December 13, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Astrobiology and Stardust

Carl Sagan once said “We are all star stuff.” But how? What does that really mean? One of the fundamental questions of astrobiology, how does life originate and evolve?, provides a structure in which to examine the relationship between life and the cosmos. Everywhere life has been found on Earth, which is essentially every place in which it has been sought, life’s intimate connection with water has also been found. Within the framework of contemplating life’s cosmic origins, one must also ask about the history of water on Earth. NASA’s Stardust mission has provided the opportunity for astrobiologists to gain deeper insight into this history.

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December 13, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Mineral Surfaces and Life

Robert Hazen, from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team, published his 2005 Presidential Address to the Mineralogical Society of America in this month’s American Mineralogist. The address reviews the role of mineral surfaces on the self-assembly of lipids, the polymerization of amino acids and nucleic acids, and the selective adsorption of organic species, including chiral molecules, onto mineral surfaces.

November 19, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Microbes of the Deep

In this week’s Science, researchers from NAI’s Indiana, Princeton, Tennessee Astrobiology Initiative (IPTAI) and Carnegie Institution of Washington Teams report that they have found an extant microbial biome at 2.8km depth in a South African mine. Analyses showed thermophilic sulfate reducers existing “with no apparent reliance on photosynthetically derived substrates.”

October 19, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Photosynthesis in the late Archean

A new study on carbon isotopes in sedimentary rocks from Western Australia by researchers from NAI’s Penn State and Carnegie Institution of Washington Teams supports the idea that small, shallow pools of water containing photosynthetic microbes existed on the early Earth ~ 2.72 Gya, about 300 million years before the rise of oxygen in the atmosphere. Their findings suggest a “global-scale expansion” of these habitats, and a progression away from anaerobic ecosystems and toward photosynthetic communities before the oxygenation...

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October 16, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Exoplanet Weather

Researchers from NAI’s UCLA, Carnegie Institution of Washington, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Teams published this week in Science Express what may well be the first “Interstellar Weather Report.” Focusing on the innermost planet orbiting the star Upsilon Andromeda b, a hot Jupiter, the team used NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to make measurements indicating that the temperature variation between the planets light and dark sides is 2,550 degrees Fahrenheit.

October 16, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Father of Earth-formation models, Carnegie's George Wetherill, dies at 80

Carnegie Institution planetary-formation theorist and founding NAI member, George Wetherill, died from heart failure on July 19, 2006, at his Washington, D.C., home. Wetherill’s work revolutionized planet and solar system formation through theoretical models.

July 23, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Carbon Isotope Record from ~2.2 Ga Rocks in the Great Lakes Area

Andrey Bekker of NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team and his colleagues have an article in press for Precambrian Research which details the carbon isotope record for the carbonate platform in the Great Lakes area. Observed carbon isotope values from the Lake Superior area may correspond to those from Griqualand West Basin, South Africa, supporting the notion of three global glaciations in the Paleoproterozoic Era.

June 18, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

B-Pictoris Debris Disk Rich in Carbon Gas

Using NASA’s FUSE spacecraft, scientists from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team have discovered abundant amounts of carbon gas in a dusty disk surrounding the young star Beta Pictoris. While planets may have already formed, the prevalence of carbon gas in the disk indicates that the planets could be carbon-rich worlds of graphite and methane, potentially resembling the early conditions of our own Solar System. The authors suggest that either carbon-rich asteroids or comets, unlike any in...

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June 13, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Super-Earths Around M Dwarf Stars - Competing Theories

Alan Boss of NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team published in the current issue of the Astrophysical Journal a new look at the origin of super-Earths orbiting M dwarf stars. The core accretion mechanism of giant planet formation has been used to explain the presence of these planets. Boss’ new work shows they could also have been formed by the disk instability mechanism.

June 6, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Interstellar Chemistry Record

Researchers at NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Team published this week in Science their new study of the interstellar chemistry record in both meteorites and interplanetary dust particles. They show that isotopic compositions in meteories meet and exceed those in found in IDP’s, demonstrating the capability of both to preserve primitive organics.

May 8, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe

NAI Discoveries Ranked Among NASA's Top Science Stories of the Year

Scientists from NAI’s NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Lead Team and NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team and their collaborators used the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope to capture the first light ever detected from two planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Spitzer picked up the infrared glow from the Jupiter-sized planets. The findings mark the beginning of a new age of planetary science, in which extrasolar planets can be directly measured and compared.

December 28, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Microbial Sulfur Disproportionation and Accelerated Oxygenation at Earth's Surface

Researchers from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team published a study in this week’s Science using high-precision measurements of a rare sulfur isotope, 33S, to establish that microbial sulfur disproportionation was in place almost half a billion years earlier than previously thought. This could imply that Earth’s surface may have become progressively more oxygenated during the middle Proterozoic.

December 6, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

More on the Rise of Earth's Oxygen Levels

A new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters from NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team and NAI’s International Partner, the Australian Centre for Astrobiology, explores environmental changes during the rise of atmospheric oxygen and the relationship between tectonics, atmospheric oxygen, and climatic changes.

October 16, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Finding Life in Mars Analog Sites on Earth

Andrew Steel of the NAI Carnegie Team and other scientists have recently tested life-detection instruments designed for Mars at the Arctic Mars Analog site in a Norwegian volcano. In a press release, Hans Amundsen of the University of Oslo said “The instruments detected both living and fossilized organisms, which is the kind of evidence we’d be searching for on the Red Planet.” One instrument, designed by scientists at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), detected “minute quantities of aromatic...

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October 4, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Dust Around an Old Star?

Investigators from NAI’s UCLA and* Carnegie Institution of Washington* Lead Teams observed dust orbiting an old, relatively dead star, GD 362, and published their results in the_ Astrophysical Journal_ this month. This enigmatic observation could form the basis for predictions about the end of our own solar system.

September 26, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

A Solar Analogue Explored

Astronomers from NAI’s Lead Teams at UCLA and the Carnegie Institution of Washington describe in this week’s issue of Nature their observations of large quantities of warm dust debris surrounding a Sun-like star some 300 light years from Earth. The dust is orbiting close to the star, and is similar in composition to dust in the Solar System. The composition and quantity of the dust may indicate massive and/or frequent collisions of large objects, perhaps similar to the...

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July 20, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

A New Class of Planet?

Astronomers have recently discovered what appear to be rocky planets intermediate in size between Earth and Jupiter. We have nothing like this in our own solar system, where there is a sharp distinction between small terrestrial planets and giants like Jupiter and Saturn. Alan Boss of the NAI Carnegie Team discusses the significance of these strange objects.

July 13, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Linking the Rise in Atmospheric Oxygen with Paleoproterozoic Glaciations

Andrey Bekker, once with NAI’s former Harvard Lead Team and now part of NAI’s Carnegie Institution of Washington Lead Team, led a study in this month’s Precambrian Research that for the first time documents chemostratigraphy and correlates Early Paleoproterozoic post-glacial carbonates of North America and South Africa.

June 15, 2005 / Posted by: Shige Abe

Pyruving the Origin of Life

For the origin of life, chemical synthesis of pyruvic acid is a critical step. In a difficult experiment, Carnegie Institute/NAI researchers report that the natural synthesis of such compounds would occur wherever hot ocean vents pass through iron sulfide-containing crust.

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December 17, 2000 / Posted by: Shige Abe