Content with the tag: “extremophiles”
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Opportunities in Microbial Genome Sequencing
Microbial Genome Sequencing Program, Fiscal Year 2009
The National Science Foundation has released details on the final year of the Microbial Genome Sequencing Program. This interagency program supports genome sequencing of microorganisms and the metagenomes of mixed microbial communities. One major goal is to make novel genome sequences more valuable to the research community.
By studying genome sequences, researchers can gain valuable insight into how microorganisms function, live and interact with their environments. This information is invaluable for astrobiologists studying the potential for life on other celestial bodies in the solar system. Investigators in the program are focused on topics...Source: [NSF]
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Life in Transition
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a new initiative from the Biological Sciences Directorate to support emerging interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the life and physical sciences. The program will focus particularly on the fundamental questions of ‘Life in Transition’, including areas relevant to the goals of astrobiology. These areas include “how the living world has and is adapting to and transforming the Earth’s climate, the diverse strategies by which living systems obtain and use energy, and life’s origins and indispensable properties.“
Target and deadline dates for proposals are...Source: [NSF]
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Life's Boiling Point
Some proteins can work above the boiling point of water, but these vital biomolecules may have a harder time evolving at high temperature. A new project is searching for the maximum temperature for protein-based life.
Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
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"Alien" Water Bears Amaze Scientists
Tardigrades, commonly known as “water bears”, have been reared under laboratory conditions and subjected to a barrage of tests. Their survivability shows that animals can survive extreme conditions, and also may indicate how humans could adapt to the rigors of space.Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
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Can the Martian Arctic Support Extreme Life?
ABC.com features NASA’s Phoenix lander and the search for life on Mars in a new article on their Technology and Science website. Harkening back to Viking, and citing new discoveries of microbes in Greenland’s glaciers, the article focuses on the need to understand the microbiology of Earth’s extreme environments in order to best search for life on other planets.
Source: [ABC]
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How Low Can Geologists Go?
Scientists have begun the final leg of a five-year, NASA-funded mission to reach the bottom of Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, the world’s deepest known sinkhole.
No one has ever reached bottom and at least one diver has died in the attempt. Scientists want to learn more about Cenote Zacatón’s physical dimensions, the geothermal vents that feed it and the forms of life that exist in its murky depths.
Previous expeditions tested the robotic probe that will make the dive. The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer, known as DEPTHX, is a tangerine-shaped submarine designed to survey...
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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.”
Source: [Link]
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NAI Scientists Successfully Drill into Subglacial Lake
Last month, scientists from NAI’s University of Hawai’i Team, in collaboration with Icelandic research institutes, successfully drilled into and sampled a lake deep beneath a glacier in Iceland. The lake and other subglacial lakes are the focus of studies of life in “extreme environments,” and may resemble potential habitats on Mars and icy satellites in the outer Solar System
Source: [Link]
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Going Deep
Some of the most arresting images of life on our planet have come from the deep-sea world of hydrothermal vents. Massive chimneys belching superheated fluids, colonies of giant crimson-tipped tubeworms swaying in the current, swarms of tiny shrimp, albino crabs. These ecosystems, although isolated from life on the surface, contain a virtual zoo of creatures, thriving under conditions of heat and pressure so extreme that, until the vent communities were discovered in the late 1970s, scientists did not even imagine that they existed.
Perhaps even more fascinating – at least to biologists – has been the cataloging of the microbial...
Biological potential of Mars
Chemistry and biology of ultramafic-hosted alkaline springs
Examination of the Microbial Diversity Found in Ice Cores (Brenchley)
Functional Genomics of Thioredoxins in Halobacterium sp. NRC-1
Interplanetary Pioneers
Microbial diversity and population structure studies in the Rio Tinto
Planetary Habitability
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hydrogen hydrogenase hydrogen metabolism hydrogen peroxide hydrogen sulfide hydrothermal hydrothermal redox pathway hydrothermal vent hydrothermal vent organisms hydrothermal vents hydroxylamine hyperion hypersaline hypersaline ecosystems hypersalinity hyperthermophilic ice ice analogs iceland ices icy satellites idaho igneous rocks image processing impact craters impactites impact melt rocks information technology infrared infrared astrophysics infrared imaging inorganic in situ analysis in situ life detection instrumentation instruments international space station interstellar interstellar chemistry interstellar ice interstellar ices. interstellar medium interstellar molecules interviews in vitro evolution ionizing radiation ion microprobe iron iron –sulfides iron-sulfur enzymes iron-sulfur minerals iron concentrations iron formation iron isotope fractionation iron oxide iron oxidizing bacteria iron reduction kinetics irons-sulfur surfaces iron spectromicroscopy irradation irradiation ir spectroscopy isomerases isotope isotopes isotopic fractionation iss issol jack hills jakoba incarcerata jakoba libera jakobids jarosite journal:earth journal: journal of geophysical research journal of bacteriology journal of the american chemical society jpl jupiter kbo kbo size distribution kepler key nutrient metals kuiper belt kuiper belt objects laboratory laboratory investigation laboratory science lake lakes landsat tm data laser laser desorption lassen lassen volcanic national park late accretion late bombardment ldn 673 left-handed lefty level of analysis lexen program life life and environment life elsewhere in the universe life in extreme life in our solar system life on mars lightning li isotopes lipids liquid liquid chromatography mass spectrometry lithic clasts lithophiles living in the microbial world: summer teacher enhancement - august 1999 lmt low-mass low-mass stars low albedo deposits lunar-like satellites lunar impacts m�ssbauer mafic maghemite 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simulations obituary ocean ocean-bottom ocean crust ocean drilling program oceans odyssey ophiolites opportunity optical microscopy orbital light curves organic organic molecules organics organic synthesis origin of ion channels origin of life origin of transmembrane proteins origins of life origins of protein function orion nebula-like osmium isotopes outer solar system outgassing outreach oven ovens oxidation oxidative stress oxidize acetate anaerobicallly oxygen oxygenic photosynthesis oxygen isotopes ozone ozone production pah paleoproterozoic paleosol pan-starrs parachute parasitism past-ecosystem process model past-sea surface temperature past carbon cycle past net primary production pavilion lake pbs pelagophytes pelobionts perchlorate perldbi permafrost permian peroxy defects phage phenotypic changes philosophy phoenix phoenix mission phospholipid fatty acids phosphorus phosphorus limitation photo-dissociation photochemistry photosynthesis photosynthetic photosynthetic 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