ASB5 Conference
Molecules and Life in Extremes
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
The 5th UK Astrobiology Society of Britain Conference, hosted by the UK Centre for Astrobiology
Registration: www.astrobiology.ac.uk
University of Edinburgh, April 17-19, 2013
Molecules and Life in Extremes
The 5th UK Astrobiology Society of Britain Conference
Hosted by the UK Centre for Astrobiology
University of Edinburgh, April 17-19, 2013
Up to date information at: www.astrobiology.ac.uk/events/asb5
LATEST: Download conference programme here [pdf 100kb]
Last Updated (Saturday, 06 April 2013 16:25)
Horizontal Gene Transfer and LUCA Conference
UK Space Agency announces £2M funding awards for astrobiology and planetary science
The UKSA has announced nine funding awards, totalling £2M, for science associated with Mars exploration. This scheme will enhance the UK’s science capabilities; help us to understand the Martian environment and to search for traces of past and present life.
Two of the awards will enable UK researchers to benefit from NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The new American rover, ‘Curiosity,’ is due to land on the Red Planet in August 2012, and will deliver vital data for scientists assessing the viability of life on the planet.
Fellowships were awarded to Dr Lewis Dartnell to move to the University of Leicester and Dr Karen Olsson-Francis of the Open University, both of whom sit on the committee for the Astrobiology Society of Britain, and Dr Pete Grindrod of University College London. Each Fellow will work for three years on key scientific questions focused on the search for life on Mars. Dr Dartnell said “I’m absolutely delighted with this award. The fellowship will allow me to really focus on research. Raman is particularly exciting as it can spot signs of extreme life in the most hostile environments on Earth – and has lots of other applications, like detecting drugs – but has not yet been deployed on a planetary mission.
Charles Cockell from the University of Edinburgh, Mark Sephton from Imperial College London and Mark Price of the University of Kent all received awards to support their work, looking respectively at the habitability of Mars; the application of Mars-bound instruments in Earth-based experiments; and the chemistry of meteor and comet impacts on the Martian surface. Axel Hagermann of the Open University received an award to enable his study of the Martian polar caps, and the potential of these regions to support life.
For a full list of the successful principal investigators, project titles, and awarded funds, see the UKSA announcement
http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/news-and-events/2012/May/new-funding-for-martian-science
Open University, 5-6 September 2013
Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) (Freeman, 1951; Syvanen, 1996) is the transfer and/or exchange of genetic material largely between micro-organisms. It is ubiquitous in nature and occurs independently of reproduction.
The idea that HGT was occurring at the time of the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) was first suggested by Forterre (2010) and evidence is mounting to support this hypothesis. The discussion scope of this conference is extensive enough so as to encompass all five mechanisms mentioned above as well as other areas of research, such as the main hypotheses relating to the origins of life.
To ensure we present a wide variety of stimulating information, we are calling for short abstracts and/or posters from the following disciplines: virologists, bacteriologists, microbiologists, geneticists, biochemists, chemists, geochemists, astrochemists, astrobiologists and evolutionary biologists.
Last Updated (Sunday, 07 April 2013 18:34)
What is Life? How Chemistry Becomes Biology
This little book (200 pages) grapples with some of the biggest questions in science: What is life? How did it emerge? How can we make life? Along the way it also addresses a few knotty problems in the origin of life field such as: was the emergence of life inevitable or a freak accident and which came first, replication or metabolism? To do this and to resolve the paradox arising from the increase in organisation associated with life and the tendency of organized systems to spontaneously become disorganized, the author introduces a different way of thinking about the stability of replicating molecules. Last Updated (Saturday, 06 April 2013 16:33)
Exploring the Solar System
If there's anything you wanted to know about the solar system, it's safe to say that it's probably somewhere in this book. A work of ambitious scope and detail, and clearly a labour of love, 'Exploring the Solar System' guides us through our local universal neighbourhood in great depth. Last Updated (Monday, 10 September 2012 16:40)
ASB Decadic ReviewUK Space Agency announces £2M funding awards for astrobiology and planetary science
The UKSA has announced nine funding awards, totalling £2M, for science associated with Mars exploration. This scheme will enhance the UK’s science capabilities; help us to understand the Martian environment and to search for traces of past and present life.
Two of the awards will enable UK researchers to benefit from NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. The new American rover, ‘Curiosity,’ is due to land on the Red Planet in August 2012, and will deliver vital data for scientists assessing the viability of life on the planet.
Fellowships were awarded to Dr Lewis Dartnell to move to the University of Leicester and Dr Karen Olsson-Francis of the Open University, both of whom sit on the committee for the Astrobiology Society of Britain, and Dr Pete Grindrod of University College London. Each Fellow will work for three years on key scientific questions focused on the search for life on Mars. Dr Dartnell said “I’m absolutely delighted with this award. The fellowship will allow me to really focus on research. Raman is particularly exciting as it can spot signs of extreme life in the most hostile environments on Earth – and has lots of other applications, like detecting drugs – but has not yet been deployed on a planetary mission.
Charles Cockell from the University of Edinburgh, Mark Sephton from Imperial College London and Mark Price of the University of Kent all received awards to support their work, looking respectively at the habitability of Mars; the application of Mars-bound instruments in Earth-based experiments; and the chemistry of meteor and comet impacts on the Martian surface. Axel Hagermann of the Open University received an award to enable his study of the Martian polar caps, and the potential of these regions to support life.
For a full list of the successful principal investigators, project titles, and awarded funds, see the UKSA announcement
http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency/news-and-events/2012/May/new-funding-for-martian-science
ASB Decadic Review - Members Questionnaire
Since its inception in 2003, the Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB) has set out to be the national organization representing all practicing scientists, researchers, teachers, students with an interest in astrobiology. As 2013 marks the 10th anniversary of the ASB, now would appear a good time to take stock and assess how the ASB should focus its collective attentions for the next 5-10 year period. As part of this forward look the ASB committee have commissioned a short questionnaire for all members to gauge your views on: (i) The ASB mission. Does it need reviewing; and if so how? (ii) Are there any new/different activities that the ASB should engage in? (iii) How best these ASB activities can support its members and the wider community Current ASB Mission Statement From the origins of life to a human presence on other planetary surfaces, from the effects of asteroid and comet impacts on the Earth's environment to the search for life elsewhere, the field of astrobiology covers scientific questions and problems that require inter-disciplinary connections between biological and space sciences. The Astrobiology Society of Britain, founded in March 2003, serves its members and the astrobiology community as a whole in the UK in: (i) Fostering links between the various and many disciplines that comprise the science of astrobiology in order to ensure that astrobiology research in the UK is vigorous, progressive and successful. (ii) To provide a mechanism for members of the astrobiology community to meet, collaborate make the community aware of UK astrobiology activities, and encourage new students and researchers into the field. (iii) To act as a professional society to organise and co-sponsor meetings and provide an environment favourable for the development of inter-disciplinary connections between biological and space sciences. Members Questionnaire We are most grateful for your time and good offices in completing this questionnaire, which should hopefully take little more than few minutes. Please tick the box that you consider to be the most appropriate response for each question. The numbers 1 – 6 refer respectively to low value and high value answers respectively. Following each question, there is a space available for additional comments and it is these entries that are most valued as they give us a better indication of how the ASB can best serve its member and the wider astrobiological community. Please return your completed questionnaires electronically to Dr Terry Kee at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it The Decadic review can be downloaded here
Last Updated (Monday, 02 July 2012 16:52) I'm a Scientist
'I'm a Scientist , Get Me Out of Here!' is back for another season, and is now looking for more scientists to take part. 'I'm a Scientist' is a wonderfully innovative outreach project, where school students get to meet online and interact with real scientists. It’s an X Factor-style competition between the scientists, with the students as the judges. Students submit questions which the scientists try to answer, as well as live online Facebook-style chats where they ask questions, learn more about the scientists, and let scientists know their opinions. The scientists are split into different zones, depending on their field, and the winner from each zone is awarded a generous fund to put towards an outreach project of their own.
Applications are now open here: http://imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply
 Adam Stevens, an astrobiologist at Open University, won the 'Space Race' zone in the last competition. He describes the experience:I'm A Scientist, get me out of here, is a real chance to get your knowledge on. Being bombarded by questions for two weeks might not sound like much fun, but here's a secret - it is. The format of the event involves schoolchildren submitting questions for you to answer and chatting with classes that book a live chat with your zone. The zones are themed, but a lot of questions and chats don't necessarily revolve around that theme. Some of them can be pretty random! I certainly found out I knew a lot of fairly inane trivia.
The element of competition (you compete for votes against the four other scientists in your zone) certainly adds and edge to things and my zone got pretty heated near the end. However, the satisfaction of interacting with such a wide group of kids is reward in itself. The prize money doesn't hurt either, and with an broad astrobiology background, you'll have a head start on the competition!
'I'm A Scientist, get me out of here', is a real chance to get your knowledge on. Being bombarded by questions for two weeks might not sound like much fun, but here's a secret - it is. The format of the event involves schoolchildren submitting questions for you to answer and chatting with classes that book a live chat with your zone. The zones are themed, but a lot of questions and chats don't necessarily revolve around that theme. Some of them can be pretty random! I certainly found out I knew a lot of fairly inane trivia.
The element of competition (you compete for votes against the four other scientists in your zone) certainly adds and edge to things and my zone got pretty heated near the end. However, the satisfaction of interacting with such a wide group of kids is reward in itself. The prize money doesn't hurt either, and with an broad astrobiology background, you'll have a head start on the competition!
Last Updated (Friday, 11 May 2012 11:00) |
