Astrobiology research day at Boulby Mine
The following release comes from STFC, the UK Centre for Astrobiology and the Boulby Underground Science Laboratory. Recently, in a collaboration between STFC, the UK Centre for Astrobiology and the Boulby Underground Science Laboratory, a new segment to the Boulby underground facility – a permanent microbiology/astrobiology lab was established. It is the first permanent underground astrobiology laboratory to be opened. In order to encourage new biological/space technology work using the facility we are planning an open day to scientists with existing peer-reviewed science or plans for deep...
Read MoreMicrogravity and Space Environments Community Survey
The UK Space Agency (UKSA) is surveying the size and shape of the UK community engaged with microgravity and space environments research. The aim is to ensure an up-to-date and accurate picture of current research activity in the UK, to inform future planning and investment decisions. Say the UKSA: We are interested in all research which uses one or more of the characteristics of space and/or space-analogue facilities which mimic these characteristics (i.e. microgravity, radiation, exposure etc.) These facilities include but are not limited to: the ISS, sounding rockets, parabolic flights,...
Read MoreReport from the UCL Symposium on the Origins of Life
The UCL Symposium on the Origins of Life took place on Monday 21st July 2014. This one-day symposium represents the second such event on origins science held at UCL. Held at the JZ Young Theatre in the Anatomy Building at UCL, a packed audience heard presentations from a range of scientists from throughout the UK and Europe on aspects of origins science from planetary science, through chemical to biochemical origins and ultimately primitive cellular systems. The range of topics covered goes only some way to demonstrating the central challenges involved in origins research and how a complete...
Read MoreConference round-up
A few conference-related bits and pieces to report. First of all, student travel grants of €200–300 are now available for the European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) ’14 meeting in Edinburgh in September. The registration deadline for the conference and to apply for travel support is the 15th of August. Secondly, the 2nd NoR HGT & LUCA conference has been announced for the 28th and 29th of October 2014. More information at the conference website. Finally, a session potentially of interest to astrobiolgy researchers has been selected for AGU this December. The session,...
Read MorePhD studentship available at the University of Rome at Tor Vergata
Professor Daniela Billi has an astrobiology PhD studentship on offer in her lab at the University of Rome at Tor Vergata. Two projects are proposed, both linked with microbiology experiments just last week arrived at the ISS as part of the EXPOSE-R2 series of experiments. For more information, head to this page, and click the ‘available projects’ tab.
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