Professor Kathy Campbell at the AM show about NASA MSL rover’s discovery of methane on Mars
NASA MSL rover discovers methane on Mars, what does it mean? Listen to NZAN Professor Kathy Campbell talking on New Zealand’s TV3 AM show about the NASA Curiosity discovery of organic molecules on Mars’ surface.
Europe launches a Virtual Institute for Astrobiology
Europe launches The European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) at the recommendations of the AstroMap Report.
Prof Martin Van Kranendonk PhD, University of NSW
Martin was trained in Canada, receiving his PhD in 1992, and then moved to Australia in 1994 to commence research on the Pilbara. In 1997 he joined the Geological Survey of Western Australia and in 2012 moved to UNSW as Professor of Geology. He is the Director of the NASA-affiliated Australian Centre for Astrobiology at UNSW, Deputy Director of the […]
The 2nd International Mars Sample Return Conference
Professor Kathy Campbell of University of Auckland and Chair of the Board of trustees for the New Zealand Astrobiology Network was invited to the 2nd International Mars Sample Return Conference in Berlin, April 2018, where she presented on the value of returning samples from hydrothermal environments as part of a NASA led team of 71 scientists from around the world.
Sam Leske
Sam developed his passion for astronomy from an early age and recalls seeing Halley’s Comet with his great uncle who also saw it in 1910. He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in 1992 and studied for a BSc at the University of New South Wales before completing pilot training back in New […]
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.
New Zealand’s hot springs contribute to discovery of oldest evidence for life on land!
Life might have colonised land 580 million years earlier than previously thought – and this has also implications for the search for life on Mars.
Professor Kathy Campbell from University of Auckland is co-author of a paper published in Nature comms that pushes the evidence for the oldest life on land by 580 million years from 2.9 to 3.5 billion years.
Announcement for the Astrobiology Australasia Meeting and Grand Tour 2018
Please join us ‘down under’ for one, the other, or both events in mid-year 2018
Event 1 – Astrobiology Australasia Meeting, Rotorua, New Zealand, 25-29 June, 2018
Event 2 – Astrobiology Grand Tour, Western Australia, 1-9 July 2018
For more information please join the expressions of interest mailing list.