Monthly Archives: August 2015

Single celled prokaryotic microbes, such as bacteria and archaea, control almost every aspect of our daily lives, from our individual health to the elemental cycles that maintain the global biosphere. A major challenge for microbial ecologists is cataloging the vast diversity of prokaryotic life on Earth and connecting this diversity with specific functions, such as the production of an essential nutrient or a key biogeochemical transformation. While modern gene sequencing techniques make it possible to evaluate the diversity of prokaryotic communities at a high level of detail, the extension of this technology to sequencing complete community genomes, termed metagenomes, is costly and data intensive. Working with Hugh Ducklow in the Biology and Paleo Environment Division of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, BMSIS researcher Jeff Bowman recently published a new method for inferring community function from the diversity of a prokaryotic community. Although conceptually similar to existing tools for metabolic…

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Single celled prokaryotic microbes, such as bacteria and archaea, control almost every aspect of our daily lives, from our individual health to the elemental cycles that maintain the global biosphere. A major challenge for microbial ecologists is cataloging the vast diversity of prokaryotic life on Earth and connecting this diversity with specific functions, such as the production of an essential nutrient or a key biogeochemical transformation. While modern gene sequencing techniques make it possible to evaluate the diversity of prokaryotic communities at a high level of detail, the extension of this technology to sequencing complete community genomes, termed metagenomes, is costly and data intensive. Working with Hugh Ducklow in the Biology and Paleo Environment Division of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, BMSIS researcher Jeff Bowman recently published a new method for inferring community function from the diversity of a prokaryotic community. Although conceptually similar to existing tools for metabolic…

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It was no ordinary fishing trip. In May 2011, Denis Tweddle, an honorary research associate of the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), led an expedition to collect little-known fishes from the remote rivers of southern Malawi. As an International Barcode of Life postdoctoral fellow at SAIAB, I joined the expedition to collect genetic samples of the fishes for the ongoing effort to build a DNA barcoding database of all the freshwater fish species in southern Africa.  The SAIAB team was joined by local scientists Amulike Msukwa and Msekiwa Matsimbe, from the Bunda College of Agriculture in Lilongwe, who collected information on fish species distribution in the region. Carl Bruessow of the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust provided valuable assistance and local knowledge of Mulanje and its environs. Our team sampled fishes from the Shire, Bua and Ruo rivers and their tributaries, concentrating on the streams descending from the slopes…

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By: Benu Atri I was recently invited to attend the 1st Blue Marble Science Symposium held in the exquisite Hilton Hotel in Downtown, Chicago on Sunday, 14th of June, 2015. Dr. Jacob Haqq-Misra and Dr. Sanjoy Som, co-founders of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS) who are also members of the organizing committee of Astrobiology India, organized the symposium. BMSIS is a non-profit research institute with an interdisciplinary approach to studying the relationship between Earth system science, space exploration, and the future of humanity. The attendees of the Blue Marble Science Symposium were a mix of undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career investigators from United States as well as international institutions and many of these were BMSIS scientists. The timing of the Blue Marble Symposium was impeccably chosen to be a day before the start of the Astrobiology Science Conference (AbSciCon) 2015, also held at the same venue. AbSciCon…

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  Professor Vinod Chandra Tewari Senior Scientist (Geology), Astrobiologist, India   Professor Vinod Chandra Tewari recently retired (November 2014) as Senior Scientist (G) and Project Director at  Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, India. He has done extensive research for over 35 years in the field of Precambrian Phanerozoic stromatollites; sedimentation and carbon isotope chemostratigraphy; genesis, early evolution and diversification of life and its astrobiological significance. In his illustrious scientific career, he has been awarded many international fellowships. He was the senior associate and TRIL fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. He has contributed to several International Geoscience Programme (IGCP) projects such as stromatolites, bio-sedimentology of microbial buildups, phosphorites, Precambrian – Cambrian boundary, global bioevents and the rise and fall of Vendian biota. He is currently the convener of the IGCP project on Asian Tethyan Realm in India.  It is a huge multinational project which, through multidisciplinary investigations, is expected to…

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  NASA SPACEWARD BOUND The Spaceward Bound Program is an educational program developed at NASA Ames Research Center. More information here. The objective is for participating scientific researchers, educators and students to visit remote and extreme environments in different parts of the world and conduct astrogeological/biological experiments, make observations and learn about the origin, sustenance and adaptation of living organisms within such biospheres. Previous spaceward bound expeditions have been conducted in the Mohave Desert USA, North Dakota USA; Idaho USA, Western Australia, Namibian Desert, UAE, Antarctica; high Arctic regions, New Zealand. More information here Traditionally, after the scientific theme of the expedition has been defined, (for example, hot acidic lakes, cold-dry desert, hot-dry desert, etc.), a team consisting of scientists, educators and students visits the site, each with their own objectives to accomplish. The scientists collect samples, conduct preliminary on-site sampling, make observations, and the work usually results in publish worthy data. The…

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