Science AMA Series: We are Astrobiologists from different institutions
around the world. We research the origin of life on Earth and the search
for life elsewhere in the Universe. Fermi paradox, exoplanets, evolution
of life, etc. Ask Us Anything!
Abstract
EDIT: …. and that’s a wrap! Thank you all for your great
questions. We had so much fun answering them. We look forward to
interacting with you again in the future! Hi Reddit! We are Martin Van
Kranendonk, Tara Djokic, Dave Deamer, Bruce Damer, Jonti Horner and
Graham Lau from several institutions around the world. We are
Astrobiologists and our research concerns the origin and evolution of
life on Earth and the search for life elsewhere in the Universe. Martin
and Tara published a paper in Nature in May this year which offers the
oldest evidence of life on land found in a hot spring environment:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15263. Their findings pushed back
the earliest known evidence of life on land by a staggering 580 million
years and has huge implications for the search for life on Mars. Watch
this short video about their work: https://youtu.be/UdMKO2l-DzA Martin,
Tara and Dave also wrote an article for Scientific American on the story
behind their stunning findings. Their research represents an important
piece of evidence in the Terrestrial Origin of Life Hypothesis conceived
by Bruce, and supported by many lab experiments conducted by Bruce and
Dave. Jonti’s research includes the search for planets orbiting other
stars (exoplanets), the formation and evolution of our Solar system, and
the nature of habitability. Graham’s research focuses on characterising
the geochemistry of rare mineral forms in extreme environments and he is
interested in how biology on Earth relates to the search for
extraterrestrial life on worlds such as Mars and Europa. So far we can
be certain that life has emerged once in the Universe: on Earth. NASA
and other space agencies are working on designing probes and rovers that
can be sent to other planets and planetary objects in the solar system
to look for signs of life. The discovery of water on Mars in 2015 is a
watershed moment for the Astrobiology community and we are anticipating
many such important discoveries in the near future. It is an exciting
time to be an Astrobiologist and we look forward to your questions! We
will be back at 3pm ET to answer your questions. Ask us anything! Prof.
Martin Van Kranendonk [MVK] website, Professor of Geology at the
University of New South Wales, Australia, and the Director of the
Australian Centre for Astrobiology Tara Djokic [TD] website, PhD
candidate at the University of New South Wales, Australia Prof. Dave
Deamer [DD] website, biologist and Research Professor of
Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz,
USA; author of ‘First Life: Discovering the Connections between Stars,
Cells, and How Life Began’ Dr Bruce Damer [BD] website, associate
researcher in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering at the
University of California at Santa Cruz, USA Associate Prof. Jonti Horner
[JH] website, astronomer and astrobiologist in the Computational
Engineering and Science Research Centre at the University of Southern
Queensland, Australia Dr Graham Lau [GL] website, astrobiologist and
science communicator at Blue Marble Space