Drilling an Ice Core in Greenland

As proof of my continuing existence, I would like to post something today. Recently I learned of the The North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling project, the purpose of which is to obtain core samples of ice from the Eemian, an interglacial period that ended over 100 thousand years ago. (I’m having trouble finding out exactly when the Eemian occurred. Any geologists out there?) Anyhow, the point is to reach back in time, with use of ice core samples, and learn more about changes in Earth’s climate. The drilling is scheduled to finish next year, at which point over 2 km of ice core will have been obtained. Sounds like fun!

Ask an Astrobiologist

Lately I have been visiting Ask an Astrobiologist, a site associated with the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI). Here you can ask questions and have them answered by David Morrison, the Senior Scientist of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. It is interesting, funny, and sad that so many questions have to do with the end of the world: fears that we will perish at the hands of fictional planet Niburu or fictional solar storms or galactic alignment or some make-believe thing in 2012. These are expressions of what Dr. Morrison calls “cosmophobia.” As he says, “When I was growing up, new discoveries in astronomy were a source of pleasure, but now for many people astronomical discoveries are associated with fear” (18 May 2010). So true, and it is so important that we return to that delight in discovery. Also, in a recent post, he gives the amusing and sound advice: “A good rule of thumb is that if anyone predicts the end of the earth, they are lying” (13 August 2010).

Anyhow, cosmophobia aside, I quite like Ask an Astrobiologist. There are some great questions about Mars, Titan, SETI, and life beyond Earth. I hope Dr. Morrison receives more thoughtful questions on such topics.

It was right to publish

So, how did Write to Publish go? It went well. I spent seven hours there (10 am to 5 pm), but the time passed smoothly. I met interesting people and, as always, I am delighted by the number of folks out there who say they have always loved science.

I had a table at the Industry Mingle, and I laid it out like a science fair project, complete with an experiment. The experiment was me. In brief, I told the tale of my earning a Master of Science degree in Writing: Book Publishing and then going into a field (astrobiology) that I had never expected to enter but that I now enjoy. Yes, the Masters in Book Publishing program can take you to new and exciting realms.

I wanted to make my display interactive, so I thought of candy. But I didn’t want to give out just any old type of candy. I wanted to give out science candy. To that end, I had bowls of red hot candies, mints, and Jolly Ranchers. The candy that you choose reveals what kind of extremophile you are: red hot candies are thermophiles, mints are psychrophiles, and Jolly Ranchers are acidophiles. Acidophiles predominated, with a smaller number of psychrophiles. I encountered only one or two thermophiles. (Reflecting on all this, I realize that I should actually have taken notes so that I could present quantifiable data.)

AbSciCon Part 2: Posters

I am new to this whole science conference thing, so bear with me as I express my surprise: science fair is real. I remember setting up my little tri-fold with its science-sounding title and its Hypothesis, Experiment, Results, Conclusion—all neatly handwritten on notebook paper. I stood nervously next to my display as people wandered around the school gymnasium. Some of them would stop to hear my little spiel about growing plants in the darkness (to see whether or not they would survive) or rolling a pair of dice over and over again (to see if any patterns appeared). Ok, well, I was not so much the brilliant scientist. But I did my time at science fair.

And it’s for real! The Poster Sessions at AbSciCon were science fair for real, with adults and serious people and glorious full-color posters with titles like “Abiological Nitrogen: Formation of Nitrogenated Organic Aerosols in the Titan Upper Atmosphere” and “Tracing Autotrophic and Heterotrophic Influences on Microbialite Formation in Pavilion Lake, BC.” This was a very exciting discovery for me, and I wandered around until my mind was like to burst.

What is AbSciCon? Part 1: Sessions and Discussions

I returned from the Astrobiology Science Conference with a long list of ideas I would like to write about and share with you, readers. First, I want to provide an overview of the conference. I had never been to AbSciCon—or any science conference—before, so this experience was new and glorious to me. Here is an outline of the conference structure. As always, to learn more please visit the AbSciCon 2010 website, brought to you by the Lunar and Planetary Institute.

Getting in the mood with the AbSciCon program and a copy of Astrobiology

Sessions
Each morning featured 4–6 different sessions at 8:00 and at 10:30. This was wonderful and…overwhelming! Imagine trying to decide between

• “Energy flow in microbial ecosystems,”
• “Extraterrestrial molecular evolution and prebiological chemistry,”
• “Astrobiology in orbit,”
• “Astrobiology and interdisciplinary communication,” and
• “Science from Río Tinto: an acidic environment.”

All those tempting talks were held at the same time, 10:30 Monday morning! The mind boggles.

Truly, it was wonderful to have so many choices; I could see straightaway the breadth and depth of astrobiology. Evident, also, was that this field of study is growing.

I have returned from AbSciCon

The 2010 Astrobiology Science Conference was a superlative professional and personal experience. I attended AbSciCon with joy and departed from it with sorrow: three dynamic days passed by all too quickly. I met authors, attended presentations, read posters, talked science and publishing, and learned a great deal. Today I am assembling my notes from the conference so that I may write a series of posts about my experience. I also have a few more book reviews in the works.

Oh, AbSciCon, I loved you, and I miss you. 2012 seems so far away.

I am going to AbSciCon!

I am going to AbSciCon! I am going to AbSciCon! I am going to AbSciCon! I am so excited that I can hardly speak or type.

AbSciCon, my friends, is the Astrobiology Science Conference. It is coming up next week, April 26–29. AbSciCon brings together an international community of scientists from a multitude of disciplines; it is the place to hear about new discoveries and insights in astrobiology. And I, a humble, awestruck copy editor, will be there!

What takes me to Houston on such a marvelous mission? I copy edit Astrobiology, a peer-reviewed science journal that studies the origins and existence of life in the Universe. My editor in chief invited me to attend the conference with her. I am delighted for this opportunity to represent my journal. Delighted? I am sitting at my computer, grinning and laughing and thinking of the pure awesomeness of AbSciCon.

Most of all, I am happy (and a wee bit nervous) for the possibility of meeting some of the authors I have worked with. To date, I have edited 24 issues of the journal; that translates into more than 200 scientific papers. Of course, not every author I have corresponded with will be there, but if I can meet even a handful of them and say hello, I will be so very glad.

So, readers, expect a lot of posts about AbSciCon in these next few weeks, because I will be writing about it like crazy.

Found while editing reference lists

In keeping with last Monday’s post about abstracts, I just want to say that I have encountered this paper in several different reference lists that I’ve edited, and it never ceases to fascinate me. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you “Stromatolites in Precambrian carbonates: evolutionary mileposts or environmental dipsticks?” by J.P. Grotzinger and A.H. Knoll. At long last, I decided to look up the abstract on the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science website. And it’s a most magnificent abstract: full of juicy words and concepts that astrobiologists love. Do I understand it? Somewhat. Mostly, as I said, I’m just intrigued by the title.

Indeed, I often find great article titles when I’m immersed in reference lists. As I discover more good ones, I’ll continue to share them here. I love the ways in which titles convey (successfully or unsuccessfully) information about a work, whether the work be a scientific paper, short story, poem, painting, song…and so forth.

Master of Abstracts: The LPI

Allen, J.S., Tobola, K.W., and Betrue, R. (2004) Training informal educators provides leverage for space science education and public outreach [abstract 2038]. In 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Abstracts, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Bérczi, Sz., Horváth, A., and Illés, E. (2003) Comparison of the cracking and fracturing systems of Phobos and Europa [abstract 3198]. In 6th International Conference on Mars, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

Keller, W.D. and Huang, W.H. (1971) Response of Apollo 12 lunar dust to reagents simulative of those in the weathering environment of Earth [abstract 1213]. In Proceedings of the 2nd Lunar Science Conference, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston.

I just want to take a moment (well, a post) to celebrate the wonder that is the Lunar and Planetary Institute Abstract Collection. There are times when bits and pieces get left out of the reference lists that I edit. Usually, I can find the missing information with a trip online. Of the various sites I use to track things down, the LPI Abstract Collection is really one of the best and brightest. It is clear and easy to use, and it has never let me down.

The Lunar and Planetary Institute hosts a great number of conferences, meetings, and workshops on a wide range of topics—many of which are relevant to astrobiology. I value their organized approach to archiving abstracts and their dedication to earnest discussion of space exploration.

Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS. Courtesy of the Galileo spacecraft. Available online here.

Kepler’s First Five

Well, I thank you for your patience. This week possesses an intensity such as I have not experienced in a long time. It feels as though I must do everything at once. But it is all copy editing, so at least I am in my element.

Today I enjoyed this news from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory: the Kepler space telescope has detected its first five exoplanets. What are exoplanets? They are planets outside our Solar System. The Kepler mission is a promising part of the search for habitable exoplanets (that is, exoplanets with the potential to support life). Kepler’s first five discoveries are too large and too hot to be habitable; nonetheless, it is always exciting to discover new planets. It is kind of like making new friends. These friends are mostly bigger than Jupiter, but that just means there is more of them to love.