NSF Graduate Student Fellow (Geosciences-Geochemistry)NASA picks ASU research team to guide study of search for life
Posted by admin on Oct 3, 2008
NASA announced Oct. 2 that ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration is one of 10 research teams from across the country to be awarded five-year grants, averaging $7 million each. ASU previously operated as an NAI team and was a charter member of the NAI when the program was founded in 1998. The team is centered in the School of Earth and Space Exploration but also involves several faculty members from the School of Life Sciences, the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the Beyond Center.
The ASU team, under the direction of principal investigator Ariel Anbar, a professor in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, attributes much of its recent success to the original ASU NAI team for the positive precedent that it created.The ASU team is joined by researchers from partner institutions and centers including University of California, Riverside; University of California, Merced; Rice University and University of Illinois – Chicago, as well as NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, the Australian Centre for Astrobiology at the University of New South Wales and the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Under the direction of Anbar, the team plans to refine the criteria to guide the search for life by characterizing life’s elemental requirements.
Astrobiologists assume that life may develop and survive on any planet that has water and energy. But in the search for extraterrestrial life, these criteria are too vague. Within the solar system there is abundant evidence of water-rich environments. Focused exploration on Mars has identified many ancient aqueous environments, Galileo spacecraft data indicate that the icy crust of Europa conceals a salty ocean, and the Cassini mission discovered water jets on Enceladus. Beyond the solar system, there are probably many Earth-like planets. Theories suggest that many of these planets are “waterworlds”, with oceans so deep that they have no exposed continents. All of these environments have sufficient energy to support microbial life.
“Water and energy are necessary but not sufficient,” says Anbar. “Look at Earth. Nearly half the planet’s surface is covered by ocean regions in which life is scarce. The reason is that these regions don’t have high enough concentrations of the chemical elements necessary for life. So the next step in the search for life is to ‘follow the elements’.” The team will pursue a three-pronged research initiative to explore the relationship between the elemental composition of organisms and their environments, the impact of planetary processes on the abundance of bioessential elements, and the effects of astrophysical processes on the abundance of life-supporting elements.
Living Green in Phoenix
Posted by admin on Oct 3, 2008
We are looking forward to moving to downtown Phoenix in early November, after Ivan starts his new job as Director of Ticketing and Patron Services at the Arizona Opera. In order to live a healthier and more environmentally-friendly lifestyle, I plan to sell or donate my car and start commuting solely by bike, bus, ASU’s awesome (free!) commuter shuttle system and — come January — the new Valley Metro light rail system! Wish us luck with our new green lifestyle!
Upcoming AGU Fall ‘08 Session: Evolution of the Marine N Cycle through Time
Posted by admin on Aug 2, 2008
Check out this link for more information about an exciting session at the upcoming fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. It will be co-chaired by Steve Romaniello, Louis Derry and myself. For abstract submission, click here and choose PP13 for the session. Deadline for abstracts is September 10. The meeting will be December 15-19, 2008 at Moscone Center, San Francisco.
A new trip for early July!
Posted by admin on Jun 28, 2008
My travel plans for July ‘08 are really piling up! Before my trip to California for two weeks in mid-July, I’ll be heading to British Columbia, to the meromictic Lake Mahoney near Penticton, Canada for four days of field sampling with a group of researchers led by Tim Lyons of UC Riverside, also including scientists from U British Columbia, CalTech, Harvard and ASU. Lake Mahoney has ~250x the amount of molybdenum of Castle Lake, so I’ll try not to contaminate my next field site!
New Research and Upcoming Travels
Posted by admin on May 23, 2008
I’ve started a new collaboration with Dr. Jens Appel, a faculty in the School of Life Sciences and am creating cyanobacterial knock-out mutants. The experience of working in a new laboratory is really exciting and keeps me on my toes. I’m learning a lot!
I’m looking forward to travelling to Portland, Maine in June for my cousin Benjamin Shapiro’s bar mitzvah. Congrats, Ben!
From Portland, I will travel west into the mountains of New Hampshire to the Waterville Valley Resort for June 15-20, 2008 for my first Gordon conference, Environmental Bioinorganic Chemistry. This will be my first Gordon conference and looking forward to meeting many of the prominent scientists in my field.
In the second half of July, I’ll be heading to Castle Lake, in northern California for field work at one of the most beautiful spots on Earth, just south of Mt. Shasta. This lake has incredibly low levels of molybdenum (abbreviated Mo), the trace metal that I study. This element is essential for microorganisms living in the lake, so I’m interested in how they cope with such low Mo. I’ll be sure to post lots of pictures of this experience.
Vote for Ivan’s Webb Center
Posted by admin on Mar 16, 2008
Ivan’s Webb Center in Wickenburg is up for an award for the best regional arts center in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They won last year, let’s help them win again this year!
Please vote by going to: http://www.azcentral.com/ent/best/2008/polls/
Click “Arts and Entertainment” under Polls.
Then, enter the code as directed by the website.
Choose “Best Regional Arts Center” and vote for the Del Webb Center for the Performing Arts, Wickenburg.
You can vote once a day from any computer!!
Upcoming Travels: California in March and April!
Posted by admin on Feb 24, 2008
I am very excited to be heading off to the California Coast during spring week for the Applied Phylogenetics Workshop at the Bodega Marine Laboratory, March 8-15, 2008.
I plan to attend the 5th Annual Southern California Geobiology Symposium at the University of Southern California on April 12th and the 5th Annual AbSciCon Conference at the SETI Institute in Santa Clara from April 14-17, 2008.
Welcome to my new web page!
Posted by admin on Feb 24, 2008
Thanks for visiting my site — I am so thankful to Valerie Heritage for the wonderful web design.