NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

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

April 9, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

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 two panels: Physicists and the Origin of the Universe, and Origins and Evolution of Life. Listen to the archive here.

April 7, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

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.

April 6, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

How Life Shatters Chemistry's Mirror

Handedness, or “chirality,” is when molecules come in two forms that are mirror images of each other, like right- and left-handed gloves. Even though chiral molecules are produced equally in nature, life seems to prefer one hand over the other. The reason for this is a mystery that scientists are struggling to answer.

Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]

April 6, 2009 / Written by: Michael Schirber

NASA's 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 2009) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Applications are due 1 May 2009.

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...

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April 3, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

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...

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April 2, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Early Oxygen

Cores retrieved from layers of deep-sea rocks that are 3.46 billion years old suggest that oceans contained abundant oxygen and that the atmosphere of the Earth was as rich in oxygen as it is today. The cores were obtained in northwestern Western Australia, and contain evidence that the deep ocean 3.46 billion years ago was so rich in oxygen that oxygen-producing organisms must have been actively producing it. This means that oxygen-producing organisms like cyanobacteria were present much earlier in Earth’s history than previously believed.

Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]

March 28, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal