Life and the Cosmos

Smithsonian Institution

Life in the Cosmos: Workshop Program


Click on talk titles to view presentation pdfs (if available).

Tuesday Sept 4

4:30-5:30 Early arrival activity: African Cosmos exhibition at the African Arts Museum near the Ripley Center

6:30-8:00 Reception,  L'Enfant Plaza Hotel

Wednesday Sept 5

Session 1a: Drake equation, planets and habitability

9:00-9:15  Introduction

9:15-9:45  Mario Guarcello  (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

9:45-10:15  David Latham (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
"Kepler and the Search for Habitable Planets"

10:15-10:45  Tom Watters  (National Air & Space Museum)
"Plate Tectonics: An end member or outlier process?"

10:45-11:15  Discussion then break

Session 1b: Drake equation, planets and habitability

11:15-11:45  Karin Oberg  (University of Virginia)
"How to make a planet: the disk-planet composition connection"

11:45-12:15  Lindy Elkins-Tanton  (Carnegie Institution)
"The real 1%: Volatiles in accretion and the rapid development of habitability"
 
12:15-1:45  Discussion then box Lunch

Session 2a: Fundamentals, origins and initial conditions 

1:45-2:15  George Cody (Carnegie Institution)
"The Apparent Conundrum of Life's Emergence on Earth"
 
2:15-2:45  Nathan Sheldon (University of Michigan)
"Surface conditions on Earth through time"

2:45-3:15  Bob Craddock (National Air & Space Museum)
"Unlocking the Climate History of Early Mars"

3:15-4:00  Discussion then break

Session 2b: Fundamentals, origins and initial conditions 

4:00-4:30  Jim Cleaves  (Carnegie Institution)
"Prebiotic Chemical Space"

4:30-5:00  Discussion

5:00-6:00 Reception, Ripley Center

7:00-10:00 Workshop Dinner at 


839 17th Street, Washington DC

http://www.cafesoleildc.com/


Thursday Sept 6

Session 3a: Life on Earth through time

9:00-9:30  Piet Martens  (Montana State University)

9:30-10:00  Adrian Melotte  (University of Kansas)

10:00-10:30  Brian Thomas  (Washburn University)

10:30-11:00  Discussion then break

Session 3b: Life on Earth through time

11:00-11:30  Doug Erwin  (Santa Fe Institute and National Museum of Natural History)
"The Early Evolution of Complex Life on Earth: Applications to Astrobiology"

11:30-12:00  Andres Cardenas (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

12:00-12:30  Richard Bambach  (National Museum of Natural History)

12:30-1:45 Discussion then box Lunch

Session 4a: Clues to life on other worlds from life on Earth

1:45-2:15 Felisa Wolfe-Simon (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)
"Alternative biochemistries: Characterization of arsenic in a bacterium"

2:15-2:45  Ben Turner  (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute)

2:45-3:15  Discussion then break

Session 4b: Clues to life on other worlds from life on Earth 

3:15-3:45  Adrienne Kish (Universite Paris-Sud)
"The relevance of extremophiles for understanding life in the universe"

3:45-4:15  Lisa Kaltenegger (Max Plank Institut fur Aeronomie)
"Super-Earths and Life - a fascinating puzzle"

4:15-5:00  Discussion, future and close