Dr Seth Shostak, speaker at the Astrobiology Australasia Meeting 2018
Dr. Seth Shostak
Haritina Mogoșanu, Executive Director NZAN
Haritina Mogoșanu is the Executive Director of the New Zealand Astrobiology Network (NZAN) and a research scientist for the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS).
New Zealand scientist advances new theory on how life could have started on Earth
A new theory that addresses how life arose on Earth, proposes that it originated in an intimate partnership between the nucleic acids (genetic instructions for all organisms) and small proteins called peptides and contradicts the widely-held “RNA-world” hypothesis, which states that life originated from nucleic acids and only later evolved to include proteins.
Peter Wills, a New Zealand astrobiologist is the co-author of this study.
Professor Anthony Poole awarded Marsden grant to unravel evolutionary origins of DNA
NZ scientists seek to unravel the evolutionary origins of DNA. Professor Anthony Poole from University of Auckland has been awarded a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund grant to unravel the evolutionary origins of DNA. What is the story of DNA? The four letters A, T, G and C make up the alphabet of […]
Laura Penrose: Student poster at AbSciCon2017
AbSciCon2017 AbSciCon2017 was held in Mesa, Arizona with scientists, students, and educators attending this conference to discuss and share ideas in Astrobiology. The theme for the conference was “Diverse Life and its Detection on Different Worlds”. One of the topics in the conference was “Astrobiology as a Human Endeavor” where student, Laura Penrose, presented her […]
Professor Kathleen Campbell is appointed Fellow of the RSNZ
Nineteen top New Zealand researchers and scholars have been announced as Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand an honour which recognises true international distinction in research and scholarship. Astrobiologist and Professor Kathleen Campbell, University of Auckland is among them. Congratulations and thank you for the support and dedication to New Zealand astrobiology.
Marcelo Gleiser
New Zealand has all it needs to become a leading centre for astrobiology research: good universities, excellent scientists, an interest from younger students and, last but not least, spectacular natural resources that can be used as laboratories for investigating the extreme conditions prevalent in early Earth and, possibly, elsewhere in this solar system and others. It was a pleasure to be part of this initiative, hopefully the gateway for much more to come.
Space Travel: the next step?
To go or not to go; that is the question. Me, I vote yes, but since we cannot go right now, what should we do right now?
Carolle Varughese
Carolle Varughese, full time star-gazer, part time explorer
Joshua Krissansen-Totton
Joshua Krissansen-Totton
When I was in primary school, I remember pouring through numerous space factoid books – the kind that have a colorful page and a “Did you know?!?” box for each of the (then) nine planets. When I turned the page after Pluto, I would always be slightly disappointed because there were no more planets to learn about. Surely – my 7-year-old self reasoned – there are billions of stars out there, and so there must be billions of other planets too. I wanted to see colorful pictures and read interesting facts for all those other planets! Now, nearly two decades later – through some combination of wonderful teachers, hard work, and serendipity – I am finally finding out about all those other planets.