Life and the Cosmos

Smithsonian Institution

Life in the Cosmos: Workshop Program


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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"
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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"
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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