MPI-DS Prandtl Colloquium: Upending Assumptions About Life on Earth
MPI-DS Prandtl Colloquium
- Date: Feb 8, 2023
- Time: 02:15 PM - 03:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
- Speaker: Prof. Dr. Sol M. Gruner
- Cornell University, Physics Dept., Ithaca, USA, and Joachim Herz Fellow, HIAS, Hamburg, Germany
- Location: Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation (MPIDS)
- Room: Prandtl Lecture Hall and Zoom, Meeting ID: 916 4564 5426 / Passcode: 360693
- Host: MPIDS
- Contact: eberhard.bodenschatz@ds.mpg.de
Discoveries of prevalent microbiota in deep rock have upended assumptions about life on Earth. This Deep Life lives on residual chemical and radioactive energy sources and is a significant fraction of Earth’s biomass. This raises profound questions about how and where life evolved, how Deep Live differs from surface life, the minimum requirements to sustain cells, the maximum temperatures and pressures under which organisms can remain viable, and effects of deep environmental conditions on the properties of biomacromolecules. The lecture serves as a historical overview for nonexperts as to why it is important to study the effects of high pressure on biomacromolecules.