NASA Explorer Schools Symposium Showcases Student Research

WASHINGTON -- Students from across the nation will gather at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida May 4-7 for the NASA Explorer Schools symposium. Future leaders in science, technology, education and math, or STEM, will present their work to NASA scientists, engineers, fellow students and educators.

The competitively selected group of fourth through 12th-graders consists of 58 students and 29 educators. The various research projects were designed to improve teaching and bolster interest in STEM disciplines.

"NASA's mission of research and discovery is a powerful context for learning," said NASA Explorer Schools Project manager, Rob LaSalvia. "Each year students amaze us with presentations that mirror the work of our scientists and engineers."

The students were required to complete an original investigation focused on existing NASA missions or research interests. Participants presented their work to experts at virtual regional symposia held January through March at NASA centers using the agency's Digital Learning Network.

In addition to presenting their work at the national symposium, participants also will learn more about NASA's research activities and exploration missions. Students will tour a variety of operational facilities at Kennedy, including the space shuttle launch complex.

The NASA Explorer Schools project offers multiple pathways for participation and requires no application process. Teacher participants must be a U.S. citizen, have a valid education certification as an administrator or educator in a nationally accredited education institution within the United States or territories, Department of Defense or State Department schools.

For more information about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit:

http://explorerschools.nasa.gov

Chemist Shows How RNA Can Be the Starting Point For Life : 2nd Part

In Dr. Sutherland’s reconstruction, phosphate plays a critical role not only as an ingredient but also as a catalyst and in regulating acidity. Dr. Joyce said he was so impressed by the role of phosphate that “this makes me think of myself not as a carbon-based life form but as a phosphate-based life form.” Dr. Sutherland’s proposal has not convinced everyone. Dr. Robert Shapiro, a chemist at New York University, said the recipe “definitely does not meet my criteria for a plausible pathway to the RNA world.” He said that cyano-acetylene, one of Dr. Sutherland’s assumed starting materials, is quickly destroyed by other chemicals and its appearance in pure form on the early earth “could be considered a fantasy.”Dr. Sutherland replied that the chemical is consumed fastest in the reaction he proposes, and that since it has been detected on Titan there is no reason it should not have been present on the early earth.If Dr. Sutherland’s proposal is correct it will set conditions that should help solve the many other problems in reconstructing the origin of life. Darwin, in a famous letter of 1871 to the botanist Joseph Hooker, surmised that life began “in some warm little pond, with all sorts of ammonia and phosphoric salts.” But the warm little pond has given way in recent years to the belief that life began in some exotic environment like the fissures of a volcano or in the deep sea vents that line the ocean floor.Dr. Sutherland’s report supports Darwin. His proposed chemical reaction take place at moderate temperatures, though one goes best at 60 degrees Celsius. “It’s consistent with a warm pond evaporating as the sun comes out,” he said. His scenario would rule out deep sea vents as the place where life originated because it requires ultraviolet light.A serious puzzle about the nature of life is that most of its molecules are right-handed or left-handed, whereas in nature mixtures of both forms exist. Dr. Joyce said he had hoped an explanation for the one-handedness of biological molecules would emerge from prebiotic chemistry, but Dr. Sutherland’s reactions do not supply any such explanation. One is certainly required because of what is known to chemists as “original syn,” referring to a chemical operation that can affect a molecule’s handedness. Dr. Sutherland said he was working on this problem and on others, including how to enclose the primitive RNA molecules in some kind of membrane as the precursor to the first living cell.