September 10, 2003

LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE:

From the Miller experiment to the search for life on other worlds

(The Seventh Conference on Chemical Evolution and the Origin of Life)

15 - 19 September, 2003.

 

 

Venues:

KASTLER LECTURE HALL and LUNDQUIST ROOM
(ADRIATICO GUEST HOUSE, Grignano)and
MAIN LECTURE HALL, MAIN BUILDING
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,
Strada Costiera 11; 34014 Trieste, Italy

 

PROGRAMME

 

CO-SPONSORS

The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (SISSA), Trieste, Italy
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Rome, Italy
The NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), USA
European Space Agency (ESA), France
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Washington, USA
University of Paris 12, France
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy
Laboratorio dell'Immaginario Scientifico, and
with the collaboration of the book series of Kluwer Academic Publishers:
"Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology"

 

 

 

DIRECTORS:

Julian CHELA-FLORES
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy and
Instituto de Estudios Avanzados (IDEA), Venezuela

Tobias OWEN
Institute For Astronomy
2680 Woodlawn Drive, 96822 Honolulu (Hawaii)
United States of America

François RAULIN
LISA, Universites Paris 12 & Paris 7
Faculte des Sciences et Technologie, 61, Avenue du General de Gaulle
F-94010 Creteil Cedex France

 

 

 

________________________________________________________________________


 

 

MONDAY, 15 SEPTEMBER 2003

Venue:
KASTLER LECTURE HALL
ADRIATICO GUEST HOUSE, Grignano

 

8.00-9.30 REGISTRATION

 

OPENING CEREMONY

CHAIRPERSON: JULIAN CHELA-FLORES

9.30-10.00 WELCOME ADDRESSES

E. Boncinelli, Director of Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati
Rosalind Grymes, Deputy Director NASA Astrobiology Institute
Paolo Molaro, Director, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
Frans van Dunne, Publishing Editor Agronomy & Microbiology, Kluwer Academic Publishers
Tobias Owen, François Raulin and Julian Chela-Flores, Conference Directors

 

 

THE CYRIL PONNAMPERUMA LECTURE

CHAIRPERSON: FRANK DRAKE
SETI Institute, United States of America

 

10.00-10.45 George V. Coyne, S.J.
OVERVIEW OF COSMIC EVOLUTION

10.45-11.15 Coffee break

 

OPENING LECTURE

CHAIRPERSON: ANDRE BRACK
Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, France

 

11.15-12.00 Juan Pérez-Mercader,
PHYSICAL PHENOMENA UNDERLYING THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

 

 

WHERE DID THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS COME FROM AND WHEN DID LIFE BEGIN?

 

CHAIRPERSON: GEORGE V. COYNE, S.J.
Specola Vaticana, Citta' del Vaticano

12.00-12.30 Francesca Matteucci, University of Trieste
THE ORIGIN OF BIOGENIC ELEMENTS

12.30-12.45 THERMOCHEMISTRY OF THE DARK AGE
Denis Puy, University of Zurich, Switzerland

 

Lunch break

 

WHERE DID THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS COME FROM AND WHEN DID LIFE BEGIN?
(continued)

 

CHAIRPERSON: FRANCES WESTALL
Centre de Biophysique moléculiare, CNRS, France

14.30-15.00 Stephen Moorbath, University of Oxford
RECENT ADVANCES AND SETBACKS IN SEARCHING FOR THE OLDEST LIFE ON EARTH: A GEOLOGIST'S VIEWPOINT

 

THE NETWORKS

CHAIRPERSON: FRANÇOIS RAULIN
LISA, Universites Paris 12 & Paris 7, France

15.00-15.30 Rosalind Grymes, NASA Astrobiology Institute, USA.
THE NASA ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE

 

15.30-16.00 Andre Brack,
EANA, THE EUROPEAN EXO/ASTROBIOLOGY NETWORK ASSOCIATION

16.00-16.30 Coffee break

 

 

 

PHYSICAL CONSTRAINTS ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

16.30-17.15


CHAIRPERSON: ROBERTO CIPRIANI
Universidad Simon Bolivar, Venezuela

ON THE APPARENTLY CONSISTENT L-BIASED ENANTIOMERIC EXCESSES IN METEORITIC EXTRACTS AS REPRESENTING A FORM OF ATTENUATED FORENSIC STEREOCHEMICAL EVIDENCE OF CHIRAL INFORMATION DERIVED FROM TERRESTRIAL CONTAMINATION.
Simon Nicholas PLATTS(1, 2)
(1.) Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW/NAI), USA
(2.) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI/NSCORT), USA

KINETIC MODELING OF THE SOAI-TYPE ALKYLZINC ADDITION AS A MODEL SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT CHIRAL AUTOAMPLIFICATION
Jesús Rivera Islasa, Jean-Claude Micheaub and Thomas Buhsea
a Centro de Investigaciones Químicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, México, .b Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse Cedex, France

PHASE TRANSITION BEATS IN NATURAL OPTICAL ACTIVITY
AND PARITY VIOLATION OF ALANINE ENANTIOMERS
Wang Wenqing, Peking University, China

 

 

17.30-18.30

CHAIRPERSON: ARANYA B BHATTACHERJEE
University of New Delhi, India

 

ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF METABOLIC PATHWAYS
Matteo Brilli and Renato Fani*
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale e Genetica, University of Florence, Italy

A MECHANISM FOR THE PREBIOTIC EMERGENCE OF PROTEINS:
THE ROLE OF PROTON GRADIENT AND HIGH TEMPERATURE IN THE POLYMERIZATION OF AMINO ACIDS EMBEDDED IN BILAYERS
P. De Vladar, Harold, 1, Cipriani, Roberto,2, Scharifker, Benjamin2, and Bubis, Jose 2
1 Fundacion IDEA, Venezuela, 2 Universidad Simon Bolivar

A FUNCTIONAL AND SELF-REFERENTIAL MODEL FOR THE GENETIC CODE
Romeu Cardoso Guimarães1, Carlos Henrique Costa Moreira, Univ. Federal Minas Gerais, Inst. Ciências Biológicas, Dept. Biologia Geral1, Belo Horizonte MG Brasil

THE IMPORTANCE OF BIASED SYNTHESIS IN CHEMICAL EVOLUTION STUDIES.
A. Negron-Mendoza1, S. Ramos-Bernal1, and G Mosqueira2
1Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, UNAM, Mexico
2 Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM, México.

 

 

TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2003

Venue:
KASTLER LECTURE HALL
ADRIATICO GUEST HOUSE, Grignano

CHEMICAL EVOLUTION AFTER THE MILLER EXPERIMENT

CHAIRPERSON: JUAN PEREZ MERCADER
Centro de Astrobiologia, Spain

 

8.30-9.00 Antonio Lazcano,
PREBIOTIC ORGANIC SYNTHESIS AND THE EMERGENCE OF LIFE: FROM THE MILLER EXPERIMENT TO THE START OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

 

WHAT ARE THE MAJOR UNSOLVED QUESTIONS?
ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS FOR THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE

CHAIRPERSON: DORON LANCET
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel

9.00-9.30 John A. Baross, University of Washington, USA
THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE AT HYDROTHERMAL VENTS

9.30-10.00 Enzo Gallori, University of Florence, Italy
MINERAL SURFACES AS A CRADLE OF
PRIMORDIAL GENETIC MATERIAL

10.00-10.30 Donald G. Fraser, University of Oxford, UK
ADSORPTION AND SELF-ORGANIZATION OF SMALL
MOLECULES ON INORGANIC SURFACES:
SOME APPLICATIONS TO THE ORIGIN OF LIFE

10.30-11.00 Group photograph at the Terrace Level of the AGH
to be followed by a coffee break

 

OTHER ASPECTS OF CHEMICAL EVOLUTION

CHAIRPERSON: RAFAEL NAVARRO-GONZALEZ, UNAM, MEXICO

11.00-11.30 Herrick Baltscheffsky,
ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF VERY EARLY SEQUENCE MOTIFS IN ENZYMES

11.30-12.00 Doron Lancet,
THE LIPID WORLD: FROM CATALYTIC AND INFORMATIONAL HEADGROUPS TO MICELLE REPLICATION AND EVOLUTION WITHOUT NUCLEIC ACIDS


DISTRIBUTION OF LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE

Planetary exploration in our solar system

The interstellar medium, micrometeorites and comets

 

CHAIRPERSON: SANDIP CHAKRABARTI
SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, India

12.00-12.30 Uwe Meierhenrich,
SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF AMINO ACID STRUCTURES IN THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

12.30-12.45 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE DEGRADATION OF COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES. APPLICATION TO THE ORIGIN OF EXTENDED SOURCES IN COMETARY ATMOSPHERES.
Fray N., Bénilan Y., Cottin H., Gazeau M.-C., and Raulin F. LISA, UMR 7583, Universités Paris 7 and Paris 12

 

Lunch break

 

 

THE ABDUS SALAM LECTURE

 

CHAIRPERSON: HERRICK BALTSCHEFFSKY
University of Stockholm, Sweden

14.30-15.30 Stanley Miller,
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE BEGINNING OF CHEMICAL EVOLUTION EXPERIMENTS

15.30-16.30 RECEPTION IN HONOR OF PROFESSOR MILLER

Venue: Terrace Level AGH.

 

EARTH ANALOGUES OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS

CHAIRPERSON: ROSALIND GRYMES
NASA Astrobiology Institute, Ames Research Center, USA.

16.30-17.00 Helga Stan-Lotter, University of Salzburg
VIABLE HALOBACTERIA FROM PERMIAN SALT DEPOSITS - AND IN OUTER SPACE?

 

17.00-17.30

CHAIRPERSON: JANET LOUISE SIEFERT
Rice University, USA

MARS-LIKE SOILS ON EARTH IN THE ATACAMA DESERT, NORTHERN CHILE
Rafael Navarro-González1,2, Fred A. Rainey3, Paola Molina1, Danielle R. Bagaley3, Becky J. Hollen3, José de la Rosa1, Alanna M. Small3, Richard C. Quinn4, Frank J. Grunthaner5, Luis Cáceres6, Benito Gomez-Silva6, Arnaud Buch2, Robert Sternberg2, Patrice Coll2, Francois Raulin2, and Christopher P. McKay7.
1 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, 2 Universités Paris 12 & Paris 7, CMC, , France, 3 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, , USA.
4 SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, USA, 5 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, , USA.6 Universidad de Antofagasta, Chile, 7Space Science Division, NASA-Ames Research Center, USA

THE DISCOVERY OF ORGANICS IN EARTH'S DEEP MATERIALS (SUB-BASEMENT RED PALEOSOLS) DRILLED IN THE NORTH PACIFIC (ODP LEG 197):
IMPLICATIONS FOR ASTROBIOLOGY RESEARCH.
Rosalba Bonaccorsi (1) & Rocco L. Mancinelli (2); (1),University of Trieste,Italy, (2) SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, USA

 

THE INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM, MICROMETEORITES AND COMETS

 

CHAIRPERSON: Uwe Meierhenrich
University of Bremen, Germany.

17.30-18.00 Gerard Schwehm, ESA
THE ROSETTA MISSION

18.00-18.30

FATE OF GLYCINE AND OTHER COMPLEX BIOMOLECULES DURING INTERSTELLAR COLLAPSE
Sandip Chakrabarti, Centre for Space Physics, Kolkata, India

CHEMICAL EVOLUTION OF SIMPLE BIOMOLECULES IN HYDRODYNAMICALLY COLLAPSING INTERSTELLAR GAS IN PRESENCE OF GRAINS
Kinsuk Acharyya, Centre for Space Physics, Kolkata, India

 

 

WEDNESDAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 2003

Venue:
KASTLER LECTURE HALL
ADRIATICO GUEST HOUSE, Grignano

 

MARS: MISSIONS AND CONDITIONS FAVORABLE TO LIFE

CHAIRPERSON: MICHEL MAYOR
Observatoire de Geneve, Switzerland

 

8.30-9.00 Michael Meyer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, USA
MARS ODYSSEY

9.00-9.30 André Brack, Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, France
SEARCH FOR LIFE ON MARS:
THE BEAGLE 2 LANDER AND THE STONE EXPERIMENT

9.30-10.00 Philippe Masson, Univ. Paris-Sud, France
WATER EVOLUTION ON MARS

10.00-10.15 Omar Pensado Diaz, Instituto de Ciencias Avanzadas, Mexico
MINIMAL UNITS OF TERRAFORMING AN ALTERNATIVE FOR
REMODELLING MARS

 

10.15-10.45 Coffee break


LIFE ON THE EARLY EARTH AND MARS

CHAIRPERSON: STEPHEN MOORBATH
University of Oxford, United Kingdom

 

10.45-11.15 Frances Westall, Centre de Biophysique moléculiare, France
EARLY LIFE AND HYDROTHERMAL ENVIRONMENTS

11.15-11.30 A. Erik Boice, Indiana University, USA
ISOTOPIC EVIDENCE FOR MICROBIAL SULFATE REDUCTION AND METHANOTROPHY DURING THE LATE ARCHEAN, WITWATERSRAND BASIN, SOUTH AFRICA

11.30-12.00 Mark Van Zuilen, Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques, France
ANCIENT LIFE ON EARTH AND MARS

 

ALTERNATIVE SCENARIOS FOR THE ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE

CHAIRPERSON: ENZO GALLORI
University of Florence, Italy

12.00-13.00

STUDIES ON COPPER - CHROMICYANIDE AS PREBIOTIC CATALYST
Kamaluddin and Shah Raj Ali, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , India

A SURFACE-MEDIATED ORIGIN OF THE RNA WORLD:
"BIOLOGICAL" ACTIVITIES OF CLAY-ADSORBED RNA MOLECULES
Marco Franchi, Elisa Biondi, and Enzo Gallori, University of Florence, Italy

ADSORPTION AND CATALYSIS OF NUCLEOTIDE HYDROLYSIS BY PYRITE IN MEDIA SIMULATING PRIMEVAL AQUEOUS ENVIRONMENTS
A. Vieyra1,#, A. C. Tessis1, M. Pontes Buarque1, J. A. Bonapace2, M. B. M. Monte3, H. Salim de Amorim4 and F. de Souza Barros4 / 1 Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho, 2 Instituto de Química and 4Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; 3 Centro de Tecnologia Mineral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

PHOSPHATE IMMOBILIZATION BY OXIDE PRECURSORS AND PYRITE:
IMPLICATIONS ON PHOSPHATE AVAILABILITY BEFORE LIFE ON EARTH
F. de Souza-Barros c,# M. B. M. Monte a, A. C. P. Duarte a, J. A. P. Bonapace b , M. R. do Amaral Jr.c,*, R. Braz Levigard d, Y. A. Ching-San Jr.d, and A.Vieyra d .
a Centro de Tecnologia Mineral (CETEM); b, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; c Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; d Instituto de Biofísica Carlos Chagas Filho,

 

Lunch break

 

FROM THE MILLER EXPERIMENT TO BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

CHAIRPERSON: AFOLABI AKINTUNDE AKINDAHUNSI
Federal University of Technology, Nigeria

14.30-15.30

COENZYMES IN EVOLUTION OF THE RNA WORLD
Mikhail Kritsky, Russia

DIVERSITY OF MICROBIAL LIFE ON EARTH AND BEYOND
Joseph Seckbach, Israel.

TITLE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Luis J. Delaye, UNAM, Mexico

EXTRATERRESTRIAL IMPACTS ON EARTH AND EXTINCTION OF LIFE IN THE HIMALAYA
Vinod Chandra Tewari,
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, India and The Abdus Salam ICTP, Italy

 

15.30-16.00 Coffee

 

POSTER SESSION

(Posters will be on display in the Art Gallery area
from Monday, 15 till Wednesday, 17 September 2003).

16.00-19.00

BRIEF (FIVE-MINUTE) ORAL INTRODUCTIONS OF POSTERS:

 

SESSION A: CHEMICAL EVOLUTION
(KASTLER HALL)

16.00-17.00

CHAIRPERSON: MOHINDRA CHADHA
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India

1. DECOMPOSITION TEMPERATURES OF PREBIOTIC MONOMERS
P.R. Bahn and A. Pappelis, USA

2. PREBIOTIC CHIRALITY TRANSFER FROM EXTRATERRESTRIAL Ca-TETRASUBSTITUTED a-AMINO ACIDS TO PROTEIN AMINO ACIDS
Marco Crismaa, Alessandro Morettoa, Fernando Formaggioa, Claudio Tonioloa, Bernard Kapteinb, University of Padova, Italy, bDSM Research, Life Sciences, Advanced Synthesis and Catalysis, Geleen, The Netherlands

3. THE HUNT FOR "BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE" BIOPOLYMERS:
SPONTANEOUS FOLDING OF RANDOM RNA OLIGOMERS
Marco Franchi*, Davide De Lucrezia§, Cristiano Chiarabelli§, Pier Luigi Luisi §, Enzo Gallori *
* Department of Animal Biology and Genetics, University of Florence - Florence (Italy)
§ Institute of Polymers, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich - Zurich (Switzerland)

4. PREBIOTIC POLYMERIZATION OF AMINOACIDS. A MARKOV CHAIN APPROACH
S. Ramos-Bernal1, G Mosqueira2 and A. Negron-Mendoza1
1Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, UNAM, Mexico
2Dirección General de Divulgación de la Ciencia, UNAM
México.

 

CHAIRPERSON: VINOD CHANDRA TEWARI
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, India

5. THE ELECTROCHEMICAL CO2 REDUCTION TO FORMATE IN HYDROTHERMAL SULFIDE ORE DEPOSIT AS A NOVEL ABIOTIC SOURCE OF ORGANIC MATTER (A HYPOTHESIS AND THE LABORATORY MODEL).
M. G. Vladimirov 1 *, Yu. F. Ryzhkov 2, V. A. Alekseev 2, V. A. Bogdanovskaya 3,
V. A. Otroshchenko 1, and M. S. Kritsky 1
1 A.N.Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Moscow; 2 The Russian Federation State Research Center "Troitsk Institute for Innovation and Fusion Research", Troitsk, Moscow Region; 3 A.N.Frumkin Institute of Electrochemistry, RAS, Moscow; Russia.

6. AMINO ACID CHRONOLOGY?
William Collis, Boglietto di Costigliole, Italy

7. THE ROLE OF CLAY MATERIAL IN SHIELDING DNA AGAINST X-RAY RADIATION.
Ciaravella A., Barbera M., Micela G., Candia R., INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico, Palermo, Scappini F, ISMN-CNR, Bologna, Cecchi-Pestellini C., ISAC-CNR, Firenze
Franchi M., Gallori E., Universita', Firenze

 

SESSION B: ASTROBIOLOGY
(LUNDQUIST HALL)

16.00-17.00

CHAIRPERSON: JOSEPH SECKBACH
Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel

 

8. INTERSTELLAR DUST AS A TRACER OF ENVIRONMENTS FAVOURABLE TO PLANET FORMATION: EVIDENCE FOR THE EXISTENCE OF A METALLICITY THRESHOLD.
Giovanni Vladilo
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy

9. CHARACTERIZATION OF EXTRASOLAR PLANET CANDIDATES
Jose Gallardo, Chile

10. PROPOSING A UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL SETI INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Genta G. Politecnico di Torino , Italy, Picco G. Advisor to the United Nations Secretary General at the Level of Under-secretary ­ New York ­ USA, Galeotti P. University of Torino, Italy and Noventa D. Non Govermental Peace Strategies Project ­ Geneve ­ Switzerland

11. HOW ADVANCED IS ETI?
ARE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROGRESS LIKELY TO BE ENDLESS?
Paolo Musso, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross of Roma, Genova - Italy

12. HAUSER-CHOMSKY-FITCH HYPOTHESIS ON THE EVOLUTION OF UNBOUNDED MENTAL FACULTIES - LANGUAGE AND NUMBER INSTINCTS
Tahir K. Shah, Universita' di Trieste, Italy

 

CHAIRPERSON: KAMALUDDIN
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee , India

13. HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER IN THE EVOLUTION OF NITROGEN FIXATION
Janet Siefert, Rice University, USA

14. THE CASE FORLIFE EXISTING OUTSIDE OF OUR BIOSPHERE: TECHNIQUES FOR IDENTIFYING MOLECULAR STRUCTURES
Riccardo Gatta, ICGEB, New Delhi, India

15. PALAEOBIOLOGY AND BIOSEDIMENTOLOGY OF THE STROMATOLITIC BUXA DOLOMITE, RANJIT WINDOW, SIKKIM, NE LESSER HIMALAYA, INDIA
Vinod Chandra Tewari
Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, India and The Abdus Salam ICTP, Italy

16. CONSERVED OLIGOPEPTIDES IN RUBISCO LARGE CHAIN: AN EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVE
P.B. Vidyasagar, Pratip Shil and Sarah Thomas, University of Pune, India.

 

ADDITIONAL POSTERS

17. ANALYSIS OF THE WORKS OF THE GERMAN NATURALIST
ERNST HAECKEL (1834-1919) ON THE ORIGIN OF LIFE
Florence Raulin-Cerceau
Centre Alexandre Koyré, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, France

18. CHEMICAL ABUNDANCES OF COMETARY METEOROIDS FROM METEOR
SPECTROSCOPY: IMPLICATIONS TO THE EARTH ENRICHMENT
Josep Mª Trigo-Rodríguez 1, Jordi Llorca2,3 and Joan Oró4
1 Universitat Jaume I. Campus Riu Sec (E.S.T.C.E), Valencia, Spain,

19. SOME STATISTICAL ASPECTS RELATED TO THE STUDY OF TREELINES
IN PICO DE ORIZABA
Luis Cruz Kuri, Universidad Veracruzana, MEXICO
Christopher P. McKay, NASA-Ames Research Center, USA
Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, UNAM, MEXICO

20. EFFECTS OF NON-CARBONACEOUS METEORITIC EXTRACTS ON THE GERMINATION, GROWTH AND CHLOROPHYLL CONTENT OF EDIBLE PLANTS
Vicente Marcano1, Paula Matheus1, Cesyen Cedeno1, Nelson Falcon 2 and Ernesto Palacios Pru 1,3 1, University of the Andes, Venezuela. 2 University of Carabobo, Venezuela. 3 International Institute of Advanced Studies, Simón Bolívar University, Caracas, Venezuela.

 

 

PRE-DINNER TALK:

 

CHAIRPERSON: Steven J. Dick,
US Naval Observatory, Washington, DC, USA

19.00-20.00

FRANK DRAKE,
PRESIDENT, THE SETI INSTITUTE

THE FUTURE OF SETI

 

20.30 CONFERENCE DINNER at the Terrace, Adiatico Guest House. (In case of bad weather the dinner will begin at 9 PM at the dining room, Adiatico Guest House.)

 

 

THURSDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2003

Sessions organized jointly with Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste,
Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Italy

Venue:
MAIN LECTURE HALL, MAIN BUILDING
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,

 

REVIEW OF MISSIONS TO THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM AND
THE SEARCH FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS

CHAIRPERSON: PAOLO MOLARO,
Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste (OAT), Italy



8.30-9.00 François Raulin,
CURRENT STATUS AND EXPECTED EXOBIOLOGICAL RETURN OF THE CASSINI-HUYGENS MISSION

9.00-9.30 Tobias Owen,
PLANETS WITH DETECTABLE LIFE

 

CHAIRPERSON: PETER D. WARD,
University of Washington, USA

9.30-10.00 Michel Mayor,
CURRENT STATUS OF THE SEARCH FOR
EXTRASOLAR PLANETS

 

10.00-10.30 Coffee break

 

10.30-10.45 Leo Girardi,
SEARCH FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS
AROUND GIANT STARS

CHAIRPERSON: MICHAEL MEYER
NASA Headquarters, Washington, USA

 

10.45-11.15 Cristiano Cosmovici,
SEARCH FOR WATER OUTSIDE THE SOLAR SYSTEM

 

THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM: EUROPA

 

CHAIRPERSON: TORRENCE JOHNSON
JPL, USA

 

11.15-11.45 SULPHATE VOLUMES AND THE FITNESS OF SUPCRT92 FOR CALCULATING DEEP OCEAN CHEMISTRY
Steven Vance1, Everett Shock2, Tilman Spohn3
1 University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA.
2 Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.
3 Westfälische Wilhelms Universität, Münster, DE.

SEARCH FOR BACTERIAL WASTE AS A POSSIBLE SIGNATURE OF LIFE ON EUROPA
A. B. Bhattacherjee, Universita di Pisa, Italy and University of Delhi, India and J. Chela-Flores, The Abdus Salam ICTP, Italy and IDEA, Venezuela

 

THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM: TITAN

CHAIRPERSON: MARGARETA BALTSCHEFFSKY
University of Stockholm

11.45-12.30

EXOBIOLOGY OF TITAN
Michael B. Simakov, Institute of Cytology RAS., Russia

CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF AEROSOLS IN SIMULATED PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES. TITAN'S AEROSOL ANALOGUES
Sandra I. Ramírez 1, Rafael Navarro-González 2, Patrice Coll 3 and François Raulin 3
1 Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos. Mexico.
2, UNAM, Mexico
3 Université Paris XII, France.

OBSERVATION, MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL SIMULATION;
UNDERSTANDING TITAN'S ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY USING THESE THREE TOOLS
J.-M. Bernard (1) , P. Coll (1) , A. Jolly (1) , Y. Bénilan (1) , G. Cernogora (2), C.D. Pintassilgo (3) , F. Raulin (1) (1) LISA, UMR 7583, France, (2) S.A., UMR 7620, France, (3) Centro de Fisica dos Plasmas and Departamento de Fisica, Lisboa, Portugal

 

Lunch break

 

THE SEARCH FOR EXTRASOLAR PLANETS

CHAIRPERSON: CRISTIANO COSMOVICI
IFSI/CNR, Roma, Italy

 

14.30-15.00 Alain Leger,
SEARCH FOR EXTRASOLAR LIFE:
THE DARWIN/TPF MISSION

 

15.00-16.30

Round Table:

HOW ANCIENT IS LIFE ON EARTH AND MARS?

CHAIRPERSON: TOBIAS OWEN
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII, USA

Andre Brack, Philippe Masson, Michael Meyer,
Stephen Moorbath, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, Mark Van Zuilen and Frances Westall

 

 

16.30-17.30 GET-TOGETHER AT THE TERRACE LEVEL, MAIN BUILDING

 

THE PUBLIC LECTURE

17.30-19.00

CHAIRPERSON: JULIAN CHELA-FLORES,
The Abdus Salam ICTP, Italy and IDEA, Venezuela

DISCUSSION LEADER: FABIO PAGAN
The Abdus Salam ICTP and SISSA, Italy

 

VENUE:

THE MAIN LECTURE HALL, MAIN BUILDING,
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics,Trieste
STRADA COSTIERA 11

 

TORRENCE JOHNSON,
California Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA

EUROPA: OVERVIEW OF THE FUTURE MISSIONS

 

 

 

 

FRIDAY, 19 SEPTEMBER 2003

 

Venue:
MAIN LECTURE HALL, MAIN BUILDING
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics

 

 

THE SEARCH FOR EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR

 

CHAIRPERSON: JOHN BAROSS
University of Washington, USA

 

8.30-9.00 Peter D. Ward, University of Washington, USA
FACTORS LEADING TO THE APPEARANCE AND SURVIVAL
OF METAZOAN EQUIVALENTS ON HABITABLE PLANETS

 

9.00-9.30 Julian Chela-Flores, ICTP, Italy and IDEA, Venezuela
EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR:
IS IT JUST A QUESTION OF TIME?

 

THE SEARCH FOR CONTINUOUSLY HABITABLE ZONES

 

CHAIRPERSON: PHILIPPE MASSON
Univ. Paris-Sud, France

9.30-9.45 Giovanni Vladilo, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy
QUASAR ABSORPTION LINE SYSTEMS AND ASTROBIOLOGY

 

9.45-10.00 Margaret C. Turnbull, University of Arizona, USA
THE HABITABILITY OF THE NEAREST STARS TO
COMPLEX LIFEFORMS

 

10.00-10.15 Mauro Messerotti, Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Italy
SPACE WEATHER AND SPACE CLIMATE:LIFE INHIBITORS OR CATALYSTS?

 

10.15-10.45 Coffee break

 

THE SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE

CHAIRPERSON: GIANCARLO GENTA
Politecnico di Torino, Italy

10.45-11.15 Stelio Montebugnoli, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Italy
SETI-ITALIA STATUS REPORT

 

11.15-11.45 Claudio Maccone, International Academy of Astronautics, Italy
SETI ON THE MOON

 

THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE:
FROM EPISTEMOLOGY TO TECHNOLOGY

 

CHAIRPERSON: MIKHAIL KRITSKY
A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia

11.45-12.00 Roberto Aretxaga, University of Deutso, Spain
ASTROBIOLOGY AND BIOCENTRISM

12.00-12.15 A. Pappelis, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA
DETERMINISM AND THE PROTEINOID THEORY

12.15-12.30 A. A. Akindahunsi, University of Trieste and Federal University of Technology, Nigeria and J. Chela-Flores, ICTP, Italy and IDEA, Venezuela
ON THE QUESTION OF CONVERGENT EVOLUTION IN BIOCHEMISTRY

 

 

Lunch break

 

THE SEARCH FOR LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE: FROM EPISTEMOLOGY TO TECHNOLOGY

 

CHAIRPERSON: ALICIA NEGRON MENDOZA
UNAM, Mexico

14.30-14.45 Juan G. Roederer, University of Alaska-Fairbanks, USA
WHEN DID INFORMATION FIRST APPEAR IN THE UNIVERSE?

 

14.45-15.00 Dante Minniti, Universidad Catolica, Chile
SEARCHING FOR DYSON SPHERES
IN THE MILKY WAY

 

CHAIRPERSON: STELIO MONTEBUGNOLI
Consiglio Nazionale Ricerche, Istituto di Radioastronomia, Italy

 

15.00-15.15 Giancarlo Genta, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
SOME ENGINEERING CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE OF HUMANOIDS

 

15.15-15.30 Simona Righini, Medicina, Italy
APPLICATION OF SETI INSTRUMENTS IN ASTROPHYSICS INVESTIGATIONS

 

15.30-15.45 Riccardo Gatta, ICGEB, New Delhi, India and J. Chela-Flores, ICTP, Italy and IDEA, Venezuela
APPLICATION OF MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES IN ASTROBIOLOGY

 

 

REVIEW TALK

CHAIRPERSON: WANG WENQING
Peking University, China

 

15.45-16.00 Mohindra Chadha, India
TEN YEARS OF TRIESTE CONFERENCES ON CHEMICAL EVOLUTION AND ORIGIN OF LIFE: A PICTORIAL OVERVIEW

 

16.00-16.30 Coffee break

 

CLOSING LECTURE

16.30-17.30

CHAIRPERSON: ANTONIO LAZCANO
UNAM, MEXICO

Steven J. Dick,
US Naval Observatory, Washington, DC, USA
THE NEW UNIVERSE, DESTINY OF LIFE AND CULTURAL IMPLICATIONS

 

CLOSING CEREMONY


17.30-17.45 Words by Julian Chela-Flores, Tobias Owen and François Raulin