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Nordic-NASA Summer School "Water, Ice and the Origin of Life in the Universe" |
| July 2-15, 2012 |
| The summer school “Water, ice and the Origin of Life in the Universe”, which will be held in Iceland from 2 to 15 July 2012, aims to give participants a thorough high-level introduction into the role of water in the evolution of life in the cosmos, starting from formation of water molecules in space and ending with evolution of the first organisms. It will bring together students and researchers from a multitude of different science branches, making it a truly multidisciplinary event. Read more |
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UHNAI team creates PAH's in the conditions of interstellar space. |
| Jan 2012 |
| An international team of scientists from Hawai?i, Florida and The Netherlands have challenged conventional wisdom by demonstrating that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be created in the ultra-cold conditions of interstellar space. Read more |
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Academic Courses relating to Astrobiology |
| Spring semester, 2012 |
| This coming Spring semester, team members of the UHNAI will be teaching a variety of undergraduate and graduate classes, ranging from evolutionary biology to astrochemistry, astronomy and astrobiology. Please contact professors directly if you would like to enroll or audit these classes. Read more |
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Ralf Kaiser elected Fellow of American Physical Society |
| November 2011 |
| UHNAI Scientist Ralf I. Kaiser was elected Fello/ of the American Physical Society at its November 2011 meeting “For pioneering experimental investigations of the chemical evolution of the Solar System and the Interstellar medium, using crossed molecular beams and surface scattering to probe the underlying phenomena on the most fundamental, microscopic level.” Kaiser’s research focuses on the formation of astrobiologically important molecules in interstellar and Solar System ices and on bimolecular gas phase reactions relevant to the chemical processing of planetary atmospheres, the interstellar medium, combustion systems, and rocket propulsion systems. Read more |
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Swedish Symposium on Language Acquisition |
| December 2011 |
| The language of genetics is riddled with linguistic terminology - transcription, translation, reading-frames and alphabets are all part of the foundational vocabulary for biologists and linguists alike. In December, UHNAI team-member Stephen Freeland traveled to Sweden to initiate an inter-disciplinary conversation about whether this shared vocabulary is a metaphor, and analogy or something more interesting altogether... Read more |
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Arrival of a new Senior NAI Fellow |
| Dec 2011 - Dec 2012 |
| Svetlana Berdyugina is a new member of the UH NAI team for the next 12-24 months thanks to a prestigious Senior NASA Astrobiology Fellowship. This fellowship allows Svetlana to reduce administrative duties on the Board of Directors for the Kiepenheuer Institut fuer Sonnenphysik as Prof. Astrophysics at University of Freiburg. By coming to Hawaii, Svetlana will work with the UHNAI and Jeff Kuhn of the IfA to explore the topic of "hot water in exoplanets and protoplanetary disks" through polarized spectra. Read more |
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Pan-STARRS 1 Discovers New Main-Belt Comet |
| November 2011 |
| Main-belt comets exhibit cometary activity despite having the orbits of normally inert main-belt asteroids, and may have played a role in the primordial delivery of water to Earth. Using the Pan-STARRS 1 survey telescope on Haleakala, UH Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow Henry Hsieh and other members of the Pan-STARRS solar system team report the discovery that main-belt asteroid 300163 (2006 VW139) is cometary, making it just the 6th main-belt comet ever to be found. Read more |
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Living in the Galactic Danger Zone |
| October 04 - November 04 |
| UHNAI Graduate Mike Gowanlock's research on a Galactic Goldilocks Zone featured in Astrobiology Magazine... Read more |
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Award Winner: UHNAI Scientist, G. Jeffrey Taylor |
| July 2011 |
| UHNAI Scientist, G. Jeffrey Taylor, receives 2011 Shoemaker Distinguished Lunar Scientist Award,
presented by the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI) on July 19 at the Lunar Science Forum at
NASA Ames Research Center. The Shoemaker Award, presented annually to a scientist who has
contributed significantly to the field of lunar science throughout his or her career, is named after
Eugene M. Shoemaker (1928-1997), considered a founder of the fields of lunar and planetary
geology. Read more |
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Award Winner: UHNAI graduate student, Patrick Gasda |
| 2011 |
| Congratulations to UH NASA Astrobiology Institute graduate student, Patrick Gasda, for being
awarded the graduate student poster award at the Origins 2011 International Conference in Montpellier,
France. This is an International Astrobiology Society and Bioastronomy joint conference with an
interdisciplinary emphasis on the origin of life and its occurrence in the Universe. Patrick's
winning poster in the Prebiotic Chemistry session is titled, "Raman Microscopy: A Technique for
Monitoring Pre-Biotic Reactions on Mineral Surfaces." Read more |
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Amino Acid Alphabet Soup |
| August 2011 |
| All life on Earth relies on a standard set of 20 molecules called amino acids to build the proteins that carry out life's essential actions. But did it have to be this way? UHNAI Post-Doc Gayle Philip's research is featured in Astrobiology magazine. Read more |
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Origin of Earth's Water Workshop |
| Sep 4-11, 2011 |
| Meeting Announcement for the "Origin of Earth's Water Workshop" Sep 4-11 in Breiddalsvik Iceland:
This workshop will host 20-25 top scientists from around the world in an interdisciplinary working
meeting to discuss issues in the context of the origin of Earth's water - to assess where we understand
things, and where we will benefit from interdisciplinary approaches. The meeting will be coupled
with geological sampling related to the research on this topic, and the filming for a Virtual Field trip
educational resource. Read more |
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