Welcome to the NAI Newsletter! The Newsletter is a compendium of announcements, events, updates, and news items related to the NAI and its research. If you have news items or suggestions you can send them to the editor, Marco Boldt at: Marco.Boldt@nasa.gov.
Newsletter for April 9, 2009
- NASA Postdoctoral Program Selections
- NPR's Science Friday on Origins of Life and the Universe
- NAI Team Overview Seminars Continue in April
- Hydrogenase Active Sites and the Origin of Life
- Fragments of Asteroid Impact are Collected and Analyzed
- A Clue to the Molecular "Handedness" of Life on Earth
- New Evidence for an Earlier Origin of Oxygenic Photosynthesis
- 2009 Santander Summer School: NAI Scholarship Deadline Extended to April 24th
- 21st Annual Planetary Science Summer School
NASA Postdoctoral Program Selections
The NASA/NAI Postdoctoral Program (NPP) provides talented postdoctoral scientists with opportunities to engage in Institute-related research and serves as a source of future astrobiology talent and leadership. The NAI has selected four outstanding postdoctoral fellows to join NAI laboratories through the NPP November 2008 opportunity.
They are:
Eric Boyd
Advisor: John Peters, Montana State University
Topic: Methanogenic Activity in Subglacial Ecosystems: Molecular Insight into Life-Sustaining Processes in Extraterrestrial Environments
Henderson Cleaves
Advisor: George Cody, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Topic: A Search for Potentially Replicable Prebiotic Molecules
Brant Jones
Advisor: Ralf Kaiser, University of Hawaii
Topic: Exploring the Astrobiological Significance of Ices of Kuiper Belt Objects
Styliani Kafka
Advisor: Alycia Weinberger, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Topic: Forecasting Life: How is Space Weather Affecting Habitable Zones in Extrasolar Planets?
Join us in welcoming them to the NAI.
For more information: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/funding/nai-postdoctoral-fellowship-program/
NPR's Science Friday on Origins of Life and the Universe
National Public Radio’s Science Friday broadcasted live from Arizona State University on Friday, April 3rd as part of their Origins Symposium. The symposium, which inaugurated ASU’s new Origins Initiative, featured world renowned scientists Stephen Hawking, Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, and Craig Venter. The Science Friday broadcast included a panel on the Origins and Evolution of Life composed of Peter Ward, Ariel Anbar, Baruch Blumberg and Paul Davies.
Listen to the archive here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102715278
NAI Team Overview Seminars Continue in April
Starting this past February 23rd, 2009, each of the NAI teams have been presenting one hour overview seminars that describe the work they will be conducting as members of the NAI. These seminars, which are broadcast via videoconference and web, provide an opportunity to find out more about the science, EPO and other activities being performed by the NAI teams. These seminars take place at 11am Pacific time. A seminar has been added for April 29th which will be presented by NAI Central.
Monday, April 13: Vikki Meadows, VPL at University of Washington
Wednesday, April 15: Mike Mumma, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Monday, April 20: Roger Summons, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Wednesday, April 22: Karen Meech, University of Hawaii
Monday, April 27: Doug Whittet, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Wednesday, April 29th: NAI Central
For more information about these seminars, podcasts of previous seminars and participation information, please visit http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/seminars/
Recently Published Research from the NAI
Hydrogenase Active Sites and the Origin of Life
Members of NAI’s Team at Montana State University have provided a Perspectives piece in Dalton Transactions reviewing the organo-metallic chemistry of the active sites of hydrogenase enzymes. Since hydrogen metabolism is presumed to be an early feature in the energetics of life, and hydrogen metabolizing organisms can be traced very early in molecular phylogeny, studying the metal clusters at hydrogenase active sites can reveal potential conditions in which early life arose. Efforts in this field also could have significant impacts on alternative and renewable energy solutions.
Fragments of Asteroid Impact are Collected and Analyzed
Never before has an asteroid been both telescopically observed while in space, and then collected and analyzed after it’s hit the Earth. NAI astrobiologists from the Carnegie Institution of Washington and the SETI Institute are part of the large, interdisciplinary team of scientists who undertook the investigation. Their results are published in a recent issue of Nature.
Analysis of the carbon content in the fragments of 2008 TC3, as it is known, showed it to be mostly graphite-like, indicating that at some point in the past the body had been subjected to extremely high temperatures. Nanodiamonds were also observed.
It’s oxygen isotopic signature classifies it as a very rare type of meteorite known as a ureilite. Because astronomers took spectral measurements of 2008 TC3 before it hit the Earth, and can compare those measurements with the laboratory analyses, scientists will be better able to recognize ureilite asteroids in space.
A Clue to the Molecular "Handedness" of Life on Earth
Members of NAI’s NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Team have a new paper in PNAS describing the distribution and enantiomeric composition of certain amino acids in carbonaceous meteorites. Their results show an increased amount of “left handed” isovaline in several meteorites, which helps to explain why all known life uses only left-handed versions of amino acids to build proteins.
“Finding more left-handed isovaline in a variety of meteorites supports the theory that amino acids brought to the early Earth by asteroids and comets contributed to the origin of only left-handed based protein life on Earth,” said study co-author Danny Glavin.
The team also found a pattern to the excess. Different types of meteorites had different amounts of water, as determined by the clays and water-bearing minerals found in the meteorites. The team discovered that meteorites with more water also had greater amounts of left-handed isovaline.
New Evidence for an Earlier Origin of Oxygenic Photosynthesis
NAI’s Archean Biosphere Drilling Project supported the acquisition of pristine drill core samples obtained from ancient rocks in Western Australia. New results from those studies, published in the current issue of Nature Geoscience, point toward an earlier start for oxygenic photosynthesis on the early Earth than previously thought.
An international team of researchers, including members of NAI’s Penn State Team, found hematite crystals and associated minerals preserved in a jasper formation within ancient marine sedimentary rocks. Their interpretation is that the rocks formed in an oxygenated water body 3.46 billion years ago. Because the findings imply the presence of molecular oxygen, the team proposes that organisms capable of oxygenic photosynthesis were present in the water body that formed the sediments almost 3.5 billion years ago. Previously, the oldest widely accepted evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis has been organic remains extracted from ~2.7 billion year old sediments. The new results thus indicate that oxygenic photosynthesis evolved more than 700 million years earlier than previously thought.
Hematite can form either in the presence of aerobic bacteria in water, or abiologically in the upper ten meters of seawater. The team did not observe any sign of wave action or other features indicating the rocks formed in shallow water, concluding that the hematite formed in at least 200 meters of water.
For more information, see ScienceNOW and the Australian Broadcasting Company science news service.
For Students and Young Investigators
2009 Santander Summer School: NAI Scholarship Deadline Extended to April 24th
Location: Palacio de Magdalena, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
Dates: June 22-26, 2009
The NAI has extended the deadline for applications to the annual Summer School sponsored by the NAI and the Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB) at Santander on Spain’s Cantabrian coast. The topic of the School this year is “Earth’s Extremophiles and Extraterrestrial Habitability.” Lecturers include John Baross of the School of Oceanography, University of Washington; Michael Madigan of the Department of Microbiology, Southern Illinois University, and Ricardo Amils of the CAB.
The seventh annual summer school in Astrobiology, organized jointly by the Spanish Centro de Astrobiología and the NASA Astrobiology Institute will be held at the Santander campus of Spain's national university, Universidad Internacional Menendez Pelayo (UIMP).
The summer school includes a week of lectures presented by internationally distinguished researchers, round-table discussions, astronomical observations, and a half-day field trip. Students completing the school receive a UIMP Diploma in Astrobiology. On-site accommodations and meals are provided at the summer campus of UIMP, the Palacio de la Magdalena, Santander (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palacio_de_la_Magdalena).
Scholarships covering travel costs, school fees, accommodation and meals are provided by NAI for approximately 10 American students. Additional opportunities are available for students of other nationalities. Applications for NAI scholarships close April 24th, 2009.
For more information: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/UIMP/2009
21st Annual Planetary Science Summer School
NASA is accepting applications from science and engineering post-docs, recent PhDs, and doctoral students for its 21st Annual Planetary Science Summer School, which will hold two separate sessions this summer (20-24 July and 3-7 August) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. During the program, student teams will carry out the equivalent of an early mission concept study, prepare a proposal authorization review presentation, present it to a review board, and receive feedback. At the end of the week, students will have a clearer understanding of the life cycle of a robotic space mission; relationships between mission design, cost, and schedule; and the tradeoffs necessary to stay within cost and schedule while preserving the quality of science. Applications are due 1 May 2009. Partial financial support is available for a limited number of individuals.
Further information is available at http://pscischool.jpl.nasa.gov .
Invisible Yellowstone
Research conducted in Yellowstone National Park by astrobiologists from
NAI's Montana State Team is highlighted in the 30-minute film *Invisible
Yellowstone*, produced by MSU's Thermal Biology Institute and MSU's Science
and Natural History filmmaking program. The film is available on DVD by
contacting Daniella Scalice at daniella.m.scalice@nasa.gov .
Beyond the Edge of the Sea Traveling Art Exhibition
‘Beyond the Edge of the Sea’ is an exhibition of the work of scientific illustrator Karen Jacobsen. She has accompanied Dr. Cindy Lee Van Dover of Duke University in the deep-sea submersible Alvin numerous times to locations across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, exploring hydrothermal vent ecosystems. This unique collaboration has yielded a vast collection of extraordinary drawings and paintings. The traveling exhibition highlights five newly commissioned pieces, and features over 70 works selected from Jacobsen's sketchbooks.
NAI supported the final production of the exhibition, which premiered at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at the College of William and Mary during the Fall of 2008. NAI also provided funds to create educational materials for exhibit visitors, especially teachers and students. The exhibition is available for installation at other venues for a fee of $15K (+shipping). If you’re interested in pursuing this opportunity at a venue near you, please contact Daniella Scalice at daniella.m.scalice@nasa.gov. For more information, see: http://web.wm.edu/muscarelle/exhibitions/traveling/beyond/index.html.
For the Astrobiology Community
New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is releasing a NASA Announcement of Opportunity (NNH09ZDA007O), New Frontiers 2009. NASA expects to select up to three New Frontiers mission proposals for a 10 month Phase A study. Following evaluation of Phase A reports, NASA expects to approve one New Frontiers mission to proceed into Phase B and subsequent mission phases. Launch is to occur no earlier than late CY 2016 and no later than CY 2018. The proposed missions must address the science objectives of one of the eight mission concepts identified in the National Research Council's 2007 report, Opening New Frontiers in Space: Choices for the Next New Frontiers Announcement of Opportunity.
Participation is open to all categories of organizations (U.S. and non-U.S), including educational institutions, industry, not-for-profit organizations, Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NASA Centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and other Government agencies. This solicitation will be open from April 20, 2009, through July 31, 2009. Upon the release date, the full text of the AO and all appendices will be available electronically at http://nspires.nasaprs.com/. A preproposal conference will be held June 3, 2009, in the Washington, DC, area; see http://newfrontiers.larc.nasa.gov/ for details.
Direct questions specifically regarding this solicitation should be directed to: Dr. Thomas H. Morgan, New Frontiers Program Scientist, Planetary Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC 20546; Tel.: (202) 358-0828; E-mail: Thoma.H.Morgan@nasa.gov (subject line to read "NEW FRONTIERS AO").
