���������������� ������������������! �"#�$ &%�'("*)&)&+)&)&+-,.�/�/���1032546��7#�����8�&9;:=<?>@0��A�/�30����A���B0���DCE��0GFH�����/0DI/���JFLKM���B�N�O�����P0��PQR�

Photo Credit: Oddur Sigurdsson Photo Credit: Kaspar Von Braun Photo Credit: Karen Meech

Report Prepared by:

Karen. Meech, Institute for Astronomy Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, National Energy Author ity Alan Boss, Carnegie Institution

Introduction The series of previous Bioastronomy meetings have played an important role in integrating the broader interests and techniques of both astronomy and biology to understand the origin and evolution of living systems in the universe, and to generating a context for exploration in our solar system and in extrasolar planetary systems. These conferences provide an opportunity for astronomers, biologists, geologists, planetary scientists, and those from other disciplines to meet and discuss research of mutual interest for addressing the question of the origin and evolution of life on this planet and elsewhere in the universe. The first International Bioastronomy Conferences were visionary in tackling problems that many scientists felt were premature to attack, given our knowledge at the time. However, these conferences are increasingly being held in a world where many others have begun to realize that these seemingly impenetrable questions are becoming amenable to at least provisional answers. 2004 has proven to be another banner year for research into habitable worlds, the central theme of this year’s conference. NASA and ESA have spacecraft in orbit around Mars, searching the entire surface for hints of water, and NASA has returned to the surface of Mars with rovers that have yielded persuasive evidence for the presence of water on Mars. NASA and ESA have spacecraft that visited or were launched on their way to several comets, frozen repositories of the most primitive molecules that formed the planets of our Solar System and may have carried prebiotic chemicals to the terrestrial planets. NASA and ESA continue to plan for space telescopes capable of detecting Earth-like planets around the closest stars. Here on Earth, research in laboratories and in the field has continued to explore the possibilities for the origin, evolution, and persistence of life in seemingly hostile environments.

Iceland offers the perfect meeting locale for experiencing at first hand some of the most exotic environments for life on our planet: newly formed volcanic islands, sub-arctic conditions, thermal springs, and mid-ocean ridges. Given this spectacular venue, combined with the gracious hospitality of our Icelandic hosts, Bioastronomy 2004 should turn out to be another major step along our way to answering the fundamental questions of how does life begin and evolve, and does life exist elsewhere in the universe? Timing of the 2004 Bioastronomy Meeting The 2004 Bioastronomy meeting on Habitable Worlds was the eighth in a series of international conferences on this topic initiated by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Commission 51. Commission 51 holds a triennial meeting on the subject of Bioastronomy. Active involvement by the IAU in these meetings began at the General Assembly in Montreal in 1979, when a Joint Session was held on Strategies for the Search for Life in the Universe. After the establishment of the commission in 1982, the Bioastronomy meetings were held every 3 years beginning in 1984 (1984, IAU Symposium 112, Boston, USA; 1987 IAU Colloquium 99, Balaton, Hungary; 1990, Val Cenis, France; 1993, Santa Cruz, USA; 1996 IAU Colloquium 161, Capri, Italy; 1999, Hawaii, USA; 2002 IAU Symposium 213, Hamilton Island, Australia). Historically, there have been two main groups dealing with the investigation of extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds. The first is IAU Commission 51, composed of astronomers, physicists and engineers who focus on the search for extrasolar planets, formation and evolution of planetary systems, and the astronomical search for intelligent signals. The second group, the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life (ISSOL), is composed largely of biologists and chemists focusing research on the biogenesis and evolution of life on Earth and in the solar system. More recently NASA Ames has hosted a large interdisciplinary meting every 2 years called AbSciCon. Held in years without an IAU General Assembly, originally the Bioastronomy series of meetings was out of phase with meetings hosted by ISSOL. However, in 1992, ISSOL changed the dates of their triennial meetings to avoid the Olympics and they began to hold their meetings in the same year as the Bioastronomy meetings, usually close in time to the Bioastronomy meetings, but not typically close geographically. In an attempt to consolidate meetings, and establish a richer interchange of ideas, French astrobiologists sought to host the 2005 Bioastronomy meeting in France in conjunction with ISSOL. However, Beijing China was announced at the ISSOL 2002 meeting in Mexico as the venue for the 2005 ISSOL meeting, so the French plan didn’t materialize. Nominally, the venue for the next Bioastronomy meeting is announced during the previous summer meeting, so this left the Commission without a specific offer for 2005. In an effort to avoid the problem of two meetings with similar topics being hosted at the same time, the Organizing Committee (OC) members present at the 2002 Australian Bioastronomy meeting decided that it would be an opportunity to move out of phase with the ISSOL meetings. If IAU sponsorship is solicited then the meeting cannot be held in a year with a general assembly (2006), so 2004 was selected and a previous expression of interest in holding the meeting from colleagues in Iceland was discussed. Dr. Thorsteinn

Thorsteinsson, of the National Energy Authority in Iceland, and Thor Jakobsson from the Icelandic Meteorological office had made a presentation to the OC at the 1996 Capri meeting about the possibility of hosting the 1999 meeting, but felt that they were not quite ready because of the major fundraising that would be required. In 1999, they were contacted by Jill Tarter about the possibility of the 2002 meeting, and again wished to wait because of funding issues. During the 2002 meeting they were again contacted, with an offer that the IAU C51 President would be invited to be on the LOC, with primary duties of fundraising for the meeting. Our Icelandic colleagues were quite enthusiastic about hosting a meeting on Habitable Worlds during July 2004 in Iceland, and Dr. Thorsteinsson agreed to chair the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). It was then the intent that during the next few years the Bioastronomy organizing committee would work closely with ISSOL President Antonio Lazcano to investigate future coordination of the two groups. This has now, in fact occurred, during a meeting held at UCLA hosted by ISSOL Board member William Schopf on September 2, 2004, and attended by representatives from ISSOL (Antonio Lazcano), IAU C51 (Karen Meech), AbSciCon (Lynn Rothschild), NAI (Rose Grymes, also representing the Federation of Astrobiology Organizations (FAO), and the European Eso/Astrobiology Network Association (EANA)). At this meeting a plan for coordinating the Bioastronomy, ISSOL and AbSciCon meetings leading up to a World Astrobiology Congress in 2011 was laid out. Iceland was selected as the 2004 meeting site because of its unique environment, especially for the conference theme. Iceland boasts a unique sub-arctic ecosystem, at the separating boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental plates. Subglacial Icelandic volcanic eruptions and deposits in Antarctica help us to understand the ice/volcano interaction both on earth and other astrobiologically important environments in the solar system. We felt that this venue would provide a rich and stimulating environment for the meeting topic and provide the opportunity to visit scientifically relevant sites. Local and Scientific Committee Members IAU C51 President K. Meech discussed a possible Science Organizing Committee (SOC) chair with the OC members at the 2002 Australia meeting, and Alan Boss (Carnegie Institution) was invited, and agreed to chair the SOC. The SOC members were chosen primarily from the Organizing Committee for IAU Commission 51 (Bioastronomy) and from the organizers of the previous Bioastronomy 2002 meeting. Local Organizing Committee chair Thorsteinsson selected the committee members for the local arrangements. From the beginning, it was decided to have a mix of astronomers, biologists and geoscientists as members of the LOC since this would be an accurate reflection of the anticipated participants. All of the committee members had an active interest in the science of astrobiology. The LOC held six formal meetings for discussions and to make all of the major decisions (late Feb 2003, Sep. 2003, Oct 7, 2003, Jan. 30, 2004; Feb. 27, 2004, and early June 2004), and in addition business was conducted via telephone and email.

Table 1. Bioastronomy 2004 Committee Members

Local Committee/Affiliation Science Committee/Affiliation Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson (chair), (Iceland) Nat. Energy Authority; Univ. Iceland

Alan Boss, (chair), (USA) Carnegie Institution

Ásta Thorleifsdóttir (Iceland) Landsteinar Company

John Baross (USA) University of Washington

Björk Bjarkadóttir (Iceland) Iceland Travel

Pascale Ehrenfreund (Netherlands) Leiden University

Einar H. Guðmundsson (Iceland) University of Iceland

Eric Gaidos (USA) University of Hawaii

Guðmundur Eggertsson (Iceland) University of Iceland

Jim Garvin (USA) NASA Headquarters

Gunnlaugur Björnsson (Iceland) University of Iceland

Rose Grymes (USA) NASA Astrobiology Institute

Jórunn Harðardóttir (Iceland) National Energy Authority

David Latham (USA) Center for Astrophysics

Karen Meech (USA) University of Hawaii

Antonio Lazcano (Mexico) National University of Mexico

Kristján Kristjánsson (Iceland) Icelandic Research Council

Lori Marino (USA) Emory University

Sigurður Steinthórsson (Iceland) University of Iceland

Eduardo Martin (USA) University of Hawaii

Thor Jakobsson (Iceland) Icelandic Meteorologic Office

Karen Meech (USA) University of Hawaii

Ray Norris (Australia) Australian National Telescope Facility

John Rummel (USA) NASA Headquarters

Jill Tarter (USA) SETI Institute

Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson National Energy Authority

Sponsors and Meeting Finances As always with these meetings, the bulk of the funding for support of the meeting comes from the registration fees, which must be set early before there is any knowledge of the likely participation. Without a sponsoring parent organization, there is always a certain amount of financial risk to these meetings. We are very pleased to report that after all the

accounts have been closed, the balance for the meeting is -$16.00 US!! Congratulations to the LOC for such a spectacular job! The registration fees were set during December 2003 at a level of $315 (22,000 ISK) for regular participants, $215 (15,000 ISK) for students and the press, and $85 (6,000 ISK) for the accompanying spouses. The registration fee rose to $400 (28,000 ISK) after April 15, 2004. (The student/press fee was unchanged after April.) The meeting would not have been possible without the generous support from a large number of sponsors. Funds were obtained through an unsolicited proposal submitted by K. Meech approximately 9 months in advance of the meeting from the National Science Foundation (from the Planetary Astronomy Program in the Astronomy Division and from the Biology Directorate; $20,000) in order to subsidize the costs of participation for young scientists who may have limited travel funds. An additional unsolicited proposal was submitted to the NASA Planetary Astronomy program for $25,000 for travel support and general conference support and a third request was made of the NASA Astrobiology program for $29,834 for rental of the conference facilities and for student participant support. Application for travel awards required submission of an abstract, an estimate of the needed funding, and a description of how the meeting would benefit the applicant. The application deadline was March 1, 2004, decisions were made on March 21, 2004, and the award letters went out via Iceland Travel roughly 1 week later. For the travel awards, a committee consisting of Rose Grymes, Jill Tarter, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, Alan Boss and Karen Meech read over the applications. There were requests from 51 participants for $86K in travel funds, which was an over-subscription of about a factor of 2.2. In order to spread the travel funds as far as possible, we gave awardees the lowest roundtrip airfare, a waived registration fee, and lodging only for the most highly ranked requests, and for these there was the assumption that the more economical hotels would be used. We were able to provide substantial funding to 24 participants. NSF requested that we have an even distribution between biology, astronomy and other fields, NASA did not provide restrictions but preferred that less senior people were supported, and the NAI provided support for graduate students, specifically from NAI member countries. The breakdown in the subject areas of the recipients was: biology (8), Astronomy/physics (7), astrobiology/SETI (6), Biogeochemistry (2), EPO (1). The distribution of participants included 17 women and 7 men, from USA (12) Australia (3), Russia/Slovakia (5), France (1), Columbia (1), Mexico (1) and Italy (1) (5 were from non-member NAI countries). Professionally, this included 8 graduate students, 6 postdoctorals, 3 junior faculty and 7 senior scientists. Three visitor apartments were rented from the University of Iceland using funds granted from the University Rector. These were made available for some of the travel grant recipients at no cost. LOC chair, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, was successful in soliciting meeting funding from the Icelandic government (from the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and from the Environmental Ministry). In addition, the Icelandic Coast Guard provided approximately

500,000 ISK (about $7,000) in helicopter transportation services to Surtsey Island for the SOC trip on July 11. A number of other organizations provided invaluable in-kind support for the meeting, which included donated staff time and advertising. In particular, the meeting website (www.bioastronomy2004.os.is) was developed at no cost by staff at the Orkustofnun, a donation of about 80 hours of labor. The members of the Icelandic Astronomical Society worked on the LOC and helped advertise the meeting, as did the Icelandic Centre for Research and the Geoscience Society of Iceland. The tables below list the sponsors and their contributions, summarize the meeting finances, and show the disposition of the travel funds.

Sponsor Amount Contr ibution Orkustofnun (National Energy Authority, Iceland)

$6,945 Web support Staffing, LOC support

University of Iceland $3,500 Grant from the Rector; LOC support

The Geoscience Society of Iceland N/A Advertisement The SETI Institute $1,800 Printing of Meeting Posters NASA Planetary Astronomy $25,000 Travel Grants; Meeting Support National Science Foundation (Planetary Astronomy, Biology)

$20,000 Travel Grants

NASA Astrobiology Institute $29,834 Travel Grants; Meeting Support Institute for Astronomy, Univ. of Hawaii

N/A Poster design; Staff support

The Icelandic Astronomical Society N/A Advertisement, LOC support Government of Iceland $2,775 Surtsey Island trip Íslensk erfðagreining - deCODE genetics Inc.

$1,390 Surtsey Island trip

The Icelandic Centre for Research (RANNÍS)

$1,200 Advertisement Supported costs of guest speaker

Iceland Air $2,400 Free Airline Tickets Icelandic Coast Guard $7,000 Transportation to Surtsey City of Reykjavik $3,000 Opening Reception; Hall rental Bioastronomy 2004: Habitable Wor lds – Final Financial repor t INCOME USD ISK Registration fees $65,390 4,708,000 Accompanying person’s fees $3,615 246,000 Travel grants, NAI/NSF $36,425 2,622,594 Conference support, NAI/NSF $33,610 2,419,791 Conference support, NEA/UI $6,945 500,000 Grant from Government of Iceland $2,775 200,000 Grant from decode Genetics, Inc. $1,390 100,000

Total $149,950 10,796,385 COSTS Meeting rooms $10,325 743,550 Auditorium rent - public talks $1,110 80,000 City Hall – rental July 11, 2004 $610 44,000 Technicians, poster boards $11,075 797,300 Printing costs & conference bags $15,575 1,121,493 First announcement - $1,425 (102,690 ISK) Conference program - $4,305 (309,958 ISK) Abstracts-Astrobiology - $8,005 (576,414 ISK) Bags and tags - $1,840 (132,431 ISK) Wireless Internet + mailing costs $3,995 287,536 Website maintenance $4,020 289,462 Bus transfer $1,480 106,570 Sightseeing trip for accompanying persons $2,110 152,000 Lunches, coffee, refreshments $41,890 3,016,000 Beer, wine & sandwiches + staffing $6,640 477,928 Travel grants $34,800 2,505,816 Rent of University apartments $1,205 86,800 SOC Trip to Surtsey July 11, 2004 - Total $4,995 359,520 Charter flight to Westman Islands – 222,110 Contribution to helicopter costs – 100,00 SOC/LOC lunch at Hotel Saga (7/10) – 37,410 Various other costs $3,715 267,554 Fee to Iceland Travel 240*2.100 $6,415 462,000 Total $144,960 10,797,529 Balance (Exchange rate:72) -$16 -$1,144

Travel Grants Program

Name Grant USD Grant ISK Micelle Allen 2,733 196,776 Natalia Belisheva 1,358 97,776 Jaime Blair 1,395 100,440 Rosalba Bonaccorsi 1,236 88,992 Anna Carnerup 2,495 179,640 Mark Claire 1,615 116,280 Zane Crawford 1,294 93,168 Marcela Ewert 873 62,856 Ruth Henneberger 1,439 103,608 Mary Ann Kadooka 2,015 145,080

Vladimir Kompanichenko 1,615 116,280 Eric Korpela 315 22,680 Charles Lineweaver 2,315 166,680 Kennda Lynch 1,112 80,064 Alicia Negron-Mendoza 1,615 116,280 Anatoly Pavlov 1,015 73,080 Jana Pittichova 2,065 148,680 Janet Siefert 1,315 94,680 Michael Simakov 1,140 82,080 Nina Solovaya 1,135 81,720 Margaret Turnbull 1,098 79,056 Dan Werthimer 1,415 101,880 Giovanna Tinetti 1,315 94,680 William Hartmann 600 43,200 34,523 2,485,656 Grants from USA 34,800 2,505,816 Balance 277 20,160

Impor tant meeting dates and Announcements The first meeting announcement was during August 2003, and was sent out on postcards highlighting the spectacular Vatnajökull ice cap Grímsvötn eruption (December 1998), Photo Oddur Sigurdsson. The posters were distributed within the NAI, and sent to international colleagues and university astronomy departments within the United States. They were additionally distributed at several major international meetings: The Division of Planetary Sciences meeting in Monterey CA (Sep 2003), the American Geophysical Union meeting in December 2003, and at the American Astronomical Society Meeting in January 2004. Other important meeting dates:

• January 15, 2004 Online registration/booking of accommodation opens • February 23, 2004 Abstract Deadline • April 1, 2004 Notification of paper acceptance • April 15, 2004 Early Registration Deadline • May 1, 2004 Conference Program online • July 12-16, 2004 Bioastronomy 2004 Meeting

Abstracts The SOC sorted the abstracts into six categories for the meeting, and then emailed the abstracts to SOC committee members with the relevant subject expertise.

1. Extrasolar Habitable Worlds – Gaidos, Boss, Martin 2. Origin & Evolution of Terrestrial Life – Thorsteinsson, Grymes, Lazcano, Baross 3. Life Elsewhere in the Solar System – Thorsteinsson, Ehrenfreund, Gaidos, Baross 4. Life in Extrasolar Planetary Systems – Martin, Boss 5. Intelligent Life Beyond the Solar System – Tarter, Marino 6. Other – Ehrenfreund, Grymes, Tarter, Meech

Each member rated the abstracts for acceptability, and then gave a rank preference on whether it would be presented orally. Members were given one week from February 23, 2004 to review the abstracts. In contrast to previous meetings, this SOC elected not to publish a Proceedings from the meeting. The reasons were two-fold. First, many on the committee felt that Proceedings were of limited value. If they were not refereed, then they were of little use, and referred Proceedings typically take so long to come out that they are no longer timely, and for the effort it would be better to publish full papers. To this end we contracted with the journal Astrobiology, to publish the meeting abstracts at a cost of $35 each, to be distributed at the meeting. Authors would also be able to submit full papers for publication in a later issue of Astrobiology, subject to the normal refereeing process. Abstracts were submitted online, and limited to 250 words. Total number of abstracts in each category: 1. Extrasolar habitable worlds 54 (23%) 2. Origin and evolution of terrestrial life 51 (22%) 3. Life elsewhere in the solar system 45 (19%) 4. Life in extrasolar planetary systems 15 (7%) 5. Intelligent life beyond the Solar System 31 (14%) 6. Other 34 (15%) Total: 230 abstracts from 212 (first) authors Division between presentation types: Category Invited Oral

Poster No Pref

Total

1. Extrasolar habitable worlds 3 22 25 4 54 2. Origin & evolution of terrestrial life 3 21 25 2 51 3. Life elsewhere in the solar system 2 26 16 1 45 4. Life in extrasolar planetary systems 2 9 4 0 15 5. Intelligent life beyond the Solar System 2 20 9 0 31 6. Other 0 13 20 1 34

Geographical distribution of first authors: USA 114 (54%) Europe 68 (32%) Russia & Ukraine 9 (4%) Australia 11 (5%) Other countries 10 (5%) [Other c.: Brazil (1), Colombia (1), India (1), Israel (2), Japan (2), Mexico (2), Taiwan (1)]. Geographical distr ibution of submitted abstracts (total 230) by categor ies Extrasolar

habitable worlds

Origin and evolution of terr. life

Life else-where in Solar Syst.

Life in extrasolar plan. syst.

Intelligent life beyond Solar Syst.

Other

USA 21 30 25 8 19 21 Europe 25 8 15 5 6 11 RU + UA 2 4 4 0 0 0 Australia 3 4 1 1 2 2 Other 3 5 0 1 4 0 Total 54 51 45 15 31 34 The striking thing here is the difference between US and Europe in Categories 1 (Extrasolar Habitable Worlds) and 2 (Origin and Evolution of Terrestrial Life); a higher number of European submissions in Category 1, but almost four times more US than European abstracts in Category 2. Meeting Support The meeting was supported with the services from Iceland travel, who were hired at a fee of 2,100 ISK ($30) per registered participant to provide registration services, travel services, and on site meeting support during the conference. Additional staffing at the meeting was provided by University of Iceland student volunteers, who in exchange for free registration helped with the pre-conference set up, packet stuffing, registration, and during the meeting as needed. There were 5 student volunteers, 3 of whom were available all throughout the meeting. Conference Venue The conference was held at the University Cinema Conference and Cultural Center (Háskólabíó), situated on the campus of the University of Iceland, located at Hagatorg. The scientific sessions took place in Auditorium 1 (which seats 330 people) and the posters were on display in Room 6 (approximately 70 m2). The poster room accommodated approximately 100 posters, and additional posters were placed in the

lobby / registration area. The Conference Secretariat and registration desk was located in front of the Auditorium, where the coffee breaks were served. A computer room was available from 8a.m. to 6p.m. daily for use by conference participants. There were 15 computers available with internet connection. In addition, a wireless internet service was made available in the lobby and Auditorium 1. The Conference Center is adjacent to Hotel Saga, and most of the other hotels were within walking distance. Participants found a variety of restaurants in the city center, 10-15 min walk from the campus area. Lunches were included in the registration fee, and served in the Hotel Saga. A map of the University Campus can be viewed at: http://www.hi.is/web/map.html An aerial photo showing approximately the same region: http://www.hi.is/~palmi/deild/svaedid/Haskolahv.html

Accommodations Blocks of rooms were reserved at many hotels located at various distances from the meeting facilities, and at a variety of prices. At the Radisson SAS Hotel Saga, the closest hotel to the meeting facilities, a room block of 70 was held beginning in January 2003. Fifty rooms were held at the Cabin Hotel, and most others had blocks of 10-25 rooms.

Name Cost [ISK] Web Site Hotel Saga 17,100 www.hotelsaga.is Gardur Summerhotel 6,250 www.icelandichotels.is Park Hotel www.icelandichotels.is City Hotel www.icelandichotels.is Cabin Hotel 8,800 Grand Hotel 14,650 www.grand.is

The Meeting Structure and Conference Program SOC trip to Surtsey July 11, 2004 – SOC members arrived early for the meeting, by Saturday, July 10, 2004, where they were briefed on issues related to the status of the meeting logistics. In addition, a full morning program was provided with talks on the geology and history of Surtsey island presented by Dr. Sveinn Jakobsson of the Surtsey Research Society (SRS), and Dr. Sveinn Jakobsson of the Surtsey Research Society (SRS), and by Dr. Sveinbjörn Björnsson, department head at the National Energy Authority. A special scientific excursion was undertaken by the SOC on Sunday July 11 to visit Surtsey Island, which formed in a submarine volcanic eruption 30 km off the southern coast of Iceland in the years 1963-1967. The eruption was closely monitored from the start, and there has been research now to monitor the biological colonization of the island along with geological and geophysical studies of the cooling and gradual alteration of the eruptive products, in which even microbes seem to play a role. Access to the island is limited to scientists who have obtained special permits. The SRS granted the SOC a special permit and invitation to visit the island, and a tour was hosted by Dr. Jakobsson. The costs of the helicopter transport to Surtsey from Heimaey were covered by the Coastguard (i.e. by the Justice Ministry), and grants from the government of Iceland and decode genetics, Inc. covered the costs of the flights between Reykjavik and Vestmannaeyjar. The visit helped place the meeting on Habitable Worlds in spectacular context. Evening program in Reykjavik City Hall: Icebreaker, opening and talks – Sunday evening, July 11, the City of Reykjavik sponsored an opening reception for Bioastronomy 2004 participants in the City Hall. A brief introduction to the meeting and welcome was provided by Alan Boss, Karen Meech and Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson. The evening program included presentations given by Dr. Gunnar Karlsson, professor of history at the University of Iceland, on the History of Iceland and by Dr. Gudmundur Sigvaldasson, Director emeritus of the Nordic Volcanological Institute, on Volcanoes of Iceland. Brief opening Monday morning – There was a brief opening session at the start of the meeting with welcoming addresses by Dr. Hördur Filippusson, Dean of the Faculty for Natural Science at the University of Iceland, LOC chair Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, and IAU C51 President Karen Meech. Alan Boss asked the speakers to remember that the Bioastronomy meetings are highly interdisciplinary and that they should therefore try to speak in terms that non-specialists can understand. All talks in a common session. 4 sessions per day, 45 min invited talks followed by 15 min contributed talks – The program development was led by SOC Chair Alan Boss who sought advice from SOC members on subjects for the session foci. SOC members recommend an array of invited speakers for these session. The program was available online May 1, 2004. However, several invited speaker replacements were made during May and June. One of the advantages of the smaller meeting venue afforded in the Bioastronomy conferences is the ability to have single plenary sessions with plenty of

time for discussion. This worked extremely well at this meeting, in particular because the invited speakers were well chosen to set the stage in the introductory talks for each session for the more detailed contributed talks which followed. Poster session Monday – A dedicated poster session with refreshments was held Monday evening, although the posters were available for display throughout the week. Student evening Monday – A special event was held for the student and post doctoral participants attending Bioastronomy 2004 on Monday July 12, and was organized by Maggie Turnbull (University of Arizona), and Mr. Vilhelm Sigmundsson. The purpose of this meeting was to develop astrobiology networking between the younger members of our community. This event was held at the University of Iceland. Special Mars Session Wednesday morning – Dr. Jim Garvin of NASA HQ and the SOC jointly planned a special Mars results session on Wednesday morning to highlight the recent results from the Mars Rover missions. Midweek fieldtrip to Thingvellir, Gullfoss and Geysir on Wednesday 13-23 – For those who have not visited the country before, this tour is an excellent introduction to the history and nature of Iceland. The tour started from the Conference Center at 13:00 and after driving for 1 hr eastward arrived at the most important historical site in the country, Þingvellir (Thingvellir), the site of the original Viking parliament, established in 930A.D. The geological setting is unique clearly showing the effects of the separation of the Eurasian and North-American continental plates. Next on the tour was the famous waterfall Gullfoss (The Golden Waterfall) and canyon on the glacial river Hvítá (White River), which originates mainly in the Langjökull ice cap. The final stop was in the Geysir area. All geysers in the world take their name from the largest hot spring in this geothermal area, which erupted to heights of 60 m (200 ft) up until the end of the 19th century. The great Geysir is mostly dormant at present, whereas Strokkur erupts up to 35 m (115 ft) every 7-10 minutes. The geology of the region is explained in a visitor center near the geothermal area. Conference participants had dinner at Geysir, before returning to hotels at 23:00. Conference dinner in the restaurant Perlan Thursday evening – The conference banquet, was held on July 15, in the Perlan restaurant, a rotating restaurant on top of a hot water tank, which afforded a spectacular view of the city and surrounding countryside. Closing of meeting Friday 18:00. Scientific Content With nearly 100 invited and contributed talks, Bioastronomy 2004 presented a rich smorgasbord of scientific work on the origin, evolution, and prevalence of life in the universe. The following list attempts to briefly highlight the main points of just a few of the many stimulating talks given in Iceland:

Artie Hatzes reviewed the status of the search for habitable planets outside of our Solar System. Roughly 25% of nearby stars seem to be good analogues for our planetary system in that they appear to have a long-period Jupiter-like planet but evidence for short-period Jupiter-like planets that would interfere with the existence of a habitable Earth-like planet on a short-period (1 year) orbit. M dwarf stars, the most plentiful in the galaxy, also contain planetary systems, increasing the number of possible abodes for habitable planets. Steinn Sigurdsson described the discovery of the fourth pulsar planet, orbiting a binary system in the M4 globular cluster. This discovery showed that Jupiter-mass planets can form even in regions of extremely low metallicity compared to the solar neighborhood. John Debes presented the results of a search for planets in orbit around white dwarfs, a search which has uncovered three candidate objects worthy of follow-up observations. Joseph Lazio talked about using the VLA to detect magnetospheric emission from extrasolar giant planets at radio wavelengths. The Square Kilometer Array may be able to detect planets in this way. Cristiano Cosmovivi discussed a search for H2O maser emission from the impact of comets on giant planets orbiting other stars that seems to have detected the expected emission around seven stars of the 27 observed to date. John Chambers described theoretical models of the formation of habitable planets and how this process depends on the presence of Jupiter-like planets on long period orbits. Francesco Marzari studied the formation of giant planets in binary star system by the conventional core accretion mechanism, finding that core accretion could not explain the in situ formation of the giant planet that appears to be orbiting in the Gamma Cephei system. Alan Boss presented models of planet formation in binary systems by the disk instability mechanism, showing that both rocky and giant planet could form in systems with separations of 25 AU or more. Alvaro Gimenez presented the future plans of ESA to search for and characterize habitable planets around nearby stars. The Darwin mission is planned to be a mid-infrared interferometer, flying on multiple separated spacecraft, capable of detecting Earth-like planets around a hundred or more nearby stars. Camilla Nesbo discussed lateral gene transfer among bacteria, eukaryotes, and archea and the implications of this transfer for the evolution of life forms. Janet Siefert discussed the phylogeny of bacterial shapes and how cellular membranes may have developed from phospholipid bilayers, noting that while archea do not have cell walls, all bacteria are rod-shaped. Evolution seems to proceed from rod-shapes to coccus shapes (round), never in the opposite direction.

Anna Carnerup presented evidence that inorganic biomorphs can be structurally equivalent to various life forms, making the identification of fossil life based solely on morphology a risky adventure. Even the presence of kerogen in putative fossils can be the result of inorganic processes rather than a robust biomarker. Bill Schopf of UCLA later argued that all kerogens are derived from life, retaining their usefulness as a biomarker. Bill presented the case for two and three dimensional Raman imagery to use in the identification of ancient microfossils. Chris Chyba presented the case for life existing in a possible ocean on Jupiter’s satellite Europa, although he cautioned that the search for life defaults to what we recognize as life. In his presentation he addressed possible alternative biochemistries, and what is known about other chemical energy sources for life. John Rummel described his efforts as NASA’s planetary protection officer to prevent cross contamination by biological species between the planets and moons in the Solar System, pointing out that the Huygens probe to Saturn’s moon Titan was not sterilized, because Titan is considered to be too cold (90 K) for the survival of terrestrial microbes. Sandra Pizarello described measurements of the D/H ratio in primitive meteorites. She noted that the D/H ratio is very sensitive to the temperature of the environment, such that the measured ratios imply that they were determined in a very cold environment (a few tens of degrees Kelvin at most), such as in the interstellar medium, the presolar cloud, or in cold regions of the solar nebula. Frank Drake described the current status of searches for extraterrestrial intelligence, and noted that with our present radio communications technology (i.e., the Arecibo radar transmitter and radio telescope) we are able to communicate with another civilization with the same degree of technological development living around stars only as far away as 100 light years, a very small region of our galaxy. The conference closing presentation was given by Simon Conway Morris, who summed up the four and a half days of presentations and posters with an alternative to “The next big step is not the expected, but the unexpected” with “There is something very odd about life” . Press Coverage The meeting received very broad media coverage within Iceland. The IAU Comm 51 President (KJM) and the SOC chairman (AJB) were interviewed by State Television, which also carried interviews with Eric Gaidos and Frank Drake during the week of the meeting. The LOC chairman (TT) and Ásta Thorleifsdóttir appeared on a Channel 2 prime time program (second largest TV station). The largest newspaper in Iceland, Morgunbladid, carried news from the conference throughout the week, interviewing five key speakers. The meeting also has international coverage, Ulf Rauchhaupt published a full-page article on the meeting and the science of bioastronomy/astrobiology

in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Carol Oliver from the Australian Centre for Astrobiology published a review of the meeting in the SETI Institute Explorer (Third Quarter 2004). Public Talks Three public talks were invited from SOC members. One of these was held prior to the meeting, at the University of Iceland, and the other 2 talks were during the meeting in a long evening session on Tuesday July 13. The talks were well attended by the public. July 9, 2004, Friday Karen Meech, Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii Topic: Astrobiology at the University of Hawaii: Water and Life in the Universe Askja

building, University of Iceland, July 13, 2004, Tuesday Eric Gaidos, University of Hawaii Topic: Life under Ice: From Iceland to the Outer Solar System Alan P. Boss, Carnegie Institution of Washington Topic: Looking for Earths in Nearby Solar Systems Teacher Workshop A mid-week teacher workshop was organized by University of Hawaii NAI EPO lead Mary Kadooka, and SETI Institute member Pamela Harmon in conjunction with Icelandic colleagues Ásta Thorleifsdóttir and Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson. The purpose of this program was to educate Icelandic teachers about astrobiology and to foster possible collaborations in Education and Outreach. The program was designed to first give the participants some content background in the 3 areas of scientific focus for the meeting: astronomy, geophysics and biology and life, and was followed with hands on experience with classroom materials. The program and speakers for the workshop are listed below. July 12, 2004, Monday • Vilhelm Sigmundsson

Astrophysicist and Junior College Teacher Workshop: Structure and evolution of the Universe

• Ásta Thorleifsdóttir

Geologist and Project Leader Workshop: Earth History and Evolution of the Atmosphere

• Gudmundur Eggertsson

Professor Emeritus of Biology Workshop: Origin and History of Life on Earth

• Karen McBride NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Workshop: NASA’s Mars Program – Latest Result and Upcoming Missions

• Mary Kadooka

Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii Workshop: What makes a world habitable?

• Pamela Harman

SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA Workshop: SETI Institute Research Programs

There were 15 biology, chemistry, physical science, and math teachers from grades 7 through 12 who attended the workshop. Also, three Icelandic graduate students attended. The teachers were very receptive and enthusiastic and appreciated the information, posters, and handouts shared with them. The summary overview of Astronomy, geology, and biology given by the three Icelandic scientists were done in the Icelandic language. This served as an introduction to astrobiology as an integrated field of different sciences. Three United States education and public outreach personnel shared astrobiology related curriculum materials with the teachers. The first was a representative from NASA Headquarters who discussed the results of the various missions to Mars in terms of finding water. Posters, handouts, and other materials related to these missions were shared. An attempt was made to have a question and answer period in Icelandic; however, the language barrier prevented the English presenters from actively participating in the discussions. The teachers then participated in an activity to compare and contrast the different conditions on different planets in our solar system that could support life. Pamela Harmon gave a presentation of the SETI Institute’s mission and research projects; specifically, about the Kepler mission which will search for earth-like (terrestrial) extra solar planets. Post-Conference Fieldtr ips The meeting organizers put together 3 spectacular post-conference field trips to highlight both the unique geology and sub-arctic biology of Iceland, as well as Icelandic history. Southern Iceland Tour – 50,000 ISK (3 days) This tour was lead by Haukur Johannesson, a Ph.D. geologist, and the author of the latest version of the geologic map of Iceland, and a expert field geologist. There were 28 participants on this trip. The group visited Iceland’s Saga-richest region, sites of catastrophic floods due to subglacial volcanic eruptions, largest lava flows on Earth in historical times, Vatnajökull ice cap and the Glacier Lagoon.

Western Iceland Tour – 44,000 ISK (3 days) This tour was lead by Mr. Arni Magnusson, an expert field trip guide. There were 25 participants on this trip. A variety of volcanic formations, Langjökull ice cap, starting points of Viking age voyages to Greenland and North America 1000 years ago, visit to the summit of Snæfellsjökull volcano. Northern Iceland Tour – 67,000 ISK (5 days) This tour was lead by Geologist Ásta Thorleifsdóttir and Glaciologist Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson. The first stop was Lake Mývatn - a unique subarctic ecosystem, part of the volcanic zone that passes through Iceland. Visits were made to the Krafla volcanic system and an active geothermal area. En route to the Vatnajokull glacier the tour explored the Herðubreið table mountain, Askja caldera, and Kverkfjöll volcanic massif and geothermal area. Day 3 was spent hiking up the Vatnajokull ice cap to the valley glacier Kverkjokull (14 hours; 3000 ft elevation climb, with a descent down the glacial moraine). On day 4 the group visited the Jökulsárgjúfur Canyons formed in catastrophic floods from Vatnajokull 2500 years ago. A visit to Dettifoss waterfall, Iceland’s greatest waterfall and the 8 km Ásbyrgi depression was also included on day 4. The tour finished on day 5 with a visit to the Tjörnes sediments, a 1200 m succession recording 3 million years of geologic history, containing a rich fossil record.

Meeting Attendance Summary

Land/Svæði Skráðir Hlufall af heild

U.S.A 130 48.51% Evrópa 108 40.30% Rússland 6 2.24% Ástralía 14 5.22% Önnur lönd 10 3.73% 268

Hlutfall þáttakenda skipt eftir löndum/svæðum

48.51%

40.30%

2.24%

5.22%

3.73%

U.S.A

Evrópa

Rússland

Ástralía

Önnur lönd