Penelope Boston
The Astrobiology of the Subsurface: Caves from Earth to Mars and Beyond
Thursday, November 1, 7:30 PM, Reilly Room, Atherton Union
The subsurface of Earth as visible in caves and mines, is home to a vast array of extremely unusual microorganisms. It is one of the many extreme environments on Earth that Penelope Boston and other astrobiologists are studying both to understand them in the context of fundamental biology and also to use them as templates for what we might find as lifeforms on other planets and moons. Some organisms “eat” rock and produce mineral traces of their presence, some live in very extreme temperatures, gas environments that are very poisonous to us but not to the creatures who live there. Some microbes can hide out in geological materials for long periods of time. Putting all these pieces together help us to prepare for the hunt for life on other planets in the Solar System, and on exoplanets around other stars.
Dr. Penelope Boston is Director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute at NASA Ames Research Center in California and holds a PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder in Microbiology and Atmospheric Chemistry.
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