Montana State, Georgia Tech help host NASA astrobiology virtual conference

Nov. 9, 2010 - PRLog -- On Nov. 8, 9 and 10, nearly 400 scientists and students from 30 countries will participate in a worldwide NASA conference, "Workshop Without Walls."

The meeting is entirely virtual, conducted via videoconferencing and Webinar technologies, in order to engage the global science community while keeping a low carbon footprint and reducing conference expenses and eliminating travel time. Scientists from as far away as Iran, Russia, New Zealand and Brazil will participate.

The meeting was co-organized by Montana State University chemistry professor John Peters, who is also director of the Astrobiology Biogeocatalysis Research Center, along with MSU postdoctoral associate Eric Boyd and Georgia Tech Professor Loren Williams and postdoctoral associate Betül Kacar Arslan. The meeting focuses on current research into the origin of life--what organizers call "molecular paleontology."

MSU and Georgia Tech are among 14 teams funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute to study the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.

For more information, visit http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/ool-www/, where archives of the sessions will be hosted or visit MSU's astrobiology research center at http://abrc.montana.edu

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