[DLS] Laurie Barge (NASA)

“Searching for Signs of Life and its Origin on Other Planets”

Is there life elsewhere in the solar system, and if so, how can we find it? Although Earth provides a variety of examples of what biology can look like, examples of the critical steps between abiotic and biotic systems are lacking because the prevalence of life on our planet has erased its record of prebiotic conditions. The distinction between biotic and abiotic is still often unclear in astrobiology, partly because the environment drives formation of non-random organic distributions throughout a planet’s organic chemical evolution. Prebiotic chemistry may still be a current or formerly active process on other worlds with detected chemical gradients and organics, for example on ocean worlds such as Enceladus or in the subsurface of Mars. In this talk, I will discuss our group’s work on simulating prebiotic hydrothermal systems where environmental conditions control the abiotic organic distributions produced. By bridging the gap between geochemistry and biochemistry, we aim to establish planet-specific biosignature thresholds to aid the search for life and its origin on other planets.

EAPS Department Lecture Series —

Weekly talks aimed to bring together the entire EAPS community, given by leading thinkers in the areas of geology, geophysics, geobiology, geochemistry, atmospheric science, oceanography, climatology, and planetary science. Runs concurrently with class 12.S501.

Contact: eapsinfo@mit.edu