Summer SPECTRASPECTRA 2001 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION Extending the Frontiers of Science

INSIDE:

Trustees’ May Meeting ...... 2 Carnegie Evening 2001 ...... 3 “Cafeteria Math” Wins CASE Alumni GIFT Award ...... 4 Centennial Activities Shape Up ...... 4 Free Floaters: Are They Planets or What? ...... 5 La Niña Boosts Productivity of the World’s Oceans ...... 5 Genetics of Fat and Cholesterol Processing ...... 7 Carnegie Welcomes Four New Staff Researchers ...... 8 New Form of Nitrogen: Pressurized Gas Becomes a Solid Semiconductor ...... 8 Astrobiologists Congregate The seasonal shift in the amount of plant growth world- at Carnegie ...... 10 wide is shown in these SeaWiFS satellite images. See Trustee and Former Carnegie President page 5 for the story. (Image reprinted with permission James D. Ebert and Wife, from Science 291, p. 2596. Copyright 2001 American Alma, Die ...... 16 Association for the Advancement of Science.)

Department of Department of Department of The Geophysical CASE/ Plant Biology Terrestrial Magnetism Embryology Observatories Laboratory First Light W HAT’ S I N A CENTURY? Every civiliza- dred years. Astrobiology at the Geophys- into the genetics of human disease and tion catalogues the ical Lab (GL) and the Department of may eventually help solve many other passage of time. Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) is a case in problems of a growing population. The ancient Egyp- point. George Cody, Nabil Boctor, Bob When Hubble discovered that the tians, Greeks, and Hazen, Alan Boss, Paul Butler, and their universe is expanding and that our Chinese kept track colleagues are all making significant con- galaxy is but a small piece of it, it shat- Tom Urban of planetary tributions to answering some of the most tered what we thought we knew about motions, seasonal intriguing questions humans have ever our place in the cosmos. With the Magel- changes, and the celebration of anniversaries asked: How did life originate on Earth, lan telescopes up and running, the using a system based on the number 10. and are there worlds elsewhere similar to Observatories staff will build on this In our own base-10 culture, one hun- our own? In just a few short years, these knowledge and no doubt surprise us all dred years has always been a particularly scientists have made huge strides in this with what they will learn. significant milestone—just longer than a emerging field. (See page 10.) Andrew Carnegie launched our insti- normal human lifetime, but not beyond The high-pressure work led by Rus tution with these words, “Your work now our ability to imagine. Carnegie is about Hemley and Dave Mao at GL is another begins, your aims are high, you seek to to celebrate such a landmark anniver- area that will continue to reveal astonish- expand known forces, [and] to discover sary, and it is an especially important ing and relevant results. By pushing the and utilize unknown forces for the bene- one to us because the 10 decades of our limits of technology, these scientists and fit of man.” Our achievements of the last existence have coincided with unprece- their collaborators have created new century—and our work now—are the dented changes in every aspect of semiconducting materials that have the result of aiming high. As we embark on human society. What’s more, many of potential for unimaginable applications the next century of Carnegie science we society’s accomplishments stand on the as the 21st century unfolds. should keep this aim squarely in sight. shoulders of the scientific advancements The current work at Embryology and that came from our research. Plant Biology is no less amazing. Both As inspiring as our past has been, we departments are studying the function of should also celebrate the work we do genes and how animals and plants now that will affect the next one hun- develop. This work is yielding insights Tom Urban, Chairman

CARNEGIE TRUSTEES’ MAY MEETING INSTITUTION OF W ASHINGTON The spring 2001 meeting of the board of trustees was held at the Depart- ment of Plant Biology in Palo Alto, California, on May 3 and 4. The Finance 1530 P Street, N.W. Committee began the session with a report on the general good health of the Washington, D.C. 20005-1910 Carnegie endowment. The board also discussed a variety of initiatives (202) 387-6400 planned for Carnegie’s centennial year and they voted to establish a new depart- Web site: www.CarnegieInstitution.org In light of recent declines of major stock ment dedicated to the study of global market indexes, such as the S&P 500 Maxine F. Singer, President ecology; it will be officially launched in and NASDAQ, some have wondered Augustus Oemler, Jr., Director, July 2002. how Carnegie’s endowment has fared. Thus far it has weathered the downturn The Observatories William Coleman, Jr., has become a admirably. The endowment is broadly Wesley T. Huntress, Jr., Director, senior trustee. At the meeting, the board diversified among stocks, bonds, and Geophysical Laboratory voted to add a new trustee, Deborah Rose. alternative assets. The equity portion Sean C. Solomon, Director, Rose received her Ph.D. from Yale’s has a value-oriented emphasis. These Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Department of Epidemiology and Public factors contributed to its total return of Christopher Somerville, Director, Health. She works for the National Center 12.7% for the year ending March 31, 2001. During the same period the S&P Department of Plant Biology for Health Statistics of the Centers for Dis- 500 returned -21.6 percent. Allan C. Spradling, Director, ease Control. Among her many affilia- Department of Embryology tions, she is a member of Harvard’s School John J. Lively, Director, of Public Health Alumni Council, the American Public Health Association, Administration and Finance and the Society for Epidemiologic Research. Over the years, Rose has been Susanne Garvey, Director, External active in a variety of public service projects. Affairs Four new staff appointments were also announced at the meeting. The Tina McDowell, Editor Department of Terrestrial Magnetism welcomes two new researchers, and the Ellen Carpenter, Assitant Editor and Geophysical Lab and Plant Biology each gain one new investigator. (See page Designer 8 for details.)

2 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ TRUSTEES LEARN ABOUT PLANT BIOLOGY AND MORE Between the business sessions global change factors: carbon of the meeting, several Carnegie dioxide, warming, water, and scientists talked to the trustees nitrogen. That evening board about their research. Board members, their guests, and members and their guests were members of the Carnegie staff also given tours of Plant Biology enjoyed a dinner at the Univer- laboratories and the Jasper sity Club arranged by Plant Ridge Biological Reserve. Biology’s business manager, On Thursday, May 3, Dave Mary Smith. Ehrhardt gave a presentation Two Observatories Staff about the work his lab is doing Members gave presentations to visualizing live plant cells using the trustees on Friday. Luis Ho a fluorescent molecular tag. Also talked about his work on black that day, Chris Field hosted a holes and quasars, and Michael Staff Member Chris Field (left) describes his global-change project at Jasper Ridge near the trip to Jasper Ridge and Rauch discussed his research on Plant Biology Department. David Greenewalt, described the nuts and bolts of the intergalactic medium and secretary to the board, senior trustee Sidney his long-term global-change the distribution of matter in the Weinberg, and trustee John Crawford (left to right) listen as Field describes how the equip- project. The research looks at universe. ment operates. the interactive effects of four

CARNEGIE EVENING 2001

inslow Briggs, director emeritus tors—proteins that absorb light. Briggs described some of the experiments he Wof the Department of Plant Biol- has spent most of his career studying and his colleagues have conducted ogy, was this year’s Carnegie Evening the photoreceptors responsible for that led to the discovery of a protein speaker. The lecture and reception how plants respond to light direction— responsible for phototropism, and took place on May 17 at the adminis- a mechanism called phototropism. A described two domains of the protein tration building. Briggs began his talk, plant hormone called auxin activates they identified that are involved in the “Phototropism: How Plants Seek the the growth of plant cells, allowing the job of light absorption. These domains Light,” with an introduction about the plant to bend toward the light source. are designated LOV1 and LOV2 four properties of light that plants Briggs’s lab investigates the proteins because they are thought to react to sense and respond to: quality or color, responsible for this phenomenon. He Light, Oxygen, and Voltage. He con- duration, quantity, and direction. cluded his talk with remarks on what Briggs showed a variety of slides that the researchers are finding out about illustrated each of these points as he the differences between LOV1 and introduced the concept of photorecep- LOV2. Below: Dave Mao (left) of the Geophysi- cal Lab talks with Yang Song (right) from Iowa State University during the recep- tion. Song will be joining the high-pres- sure group later this summer.

Above: Carnegie Evening speaker, Winslow Briggs, and his wife, Anne, enjoy a moment after the lecture.

Right: The Department of Terrestrial Mag- netism’s electronics engineer, Ben Pandit (left), brought his son, Ranjan Kumar Pandit, to this year’s Carnegie Evening.

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 3 “Cafeteria Math” Wins CASE Alumni GIFT Award an Feinberg and Sam Washington, D.C. The idea for menu and submit it to the Dis- DReheard, both Carnegie sci- the team’s proposal grew out of trict of Columbia Public Schools ence education graduates, an original lesson, “Hamburger director in charge of meals. received a $15,000 award from Dissection,” developed by Fein- Student reaction to the pro- the Growth Initiatives For Teach- berg while he was at CASE in posal has been very positive. ers (GIFT) program to support 1998. The lesson began with an According to Feinberg, “One of the development of an integrated all-encompassing view of the the largest problems facing science and mathematics lesson digestive system, which was then teachers is student motivation. that grew out of Feinberg’s sum- related to nutrition. The GIFT The students must see why infor- mer CASE work. The award is proposal, “Cafeteria Math,” is a mation is important to them. It’s given by Verizon Communica- cross-curricular unit that empha- not enough to simply put the tions to teams of science and sizes the interrelationship of sci- information out there and expect math teachers in grades 6 ence and math by studying the the students to come get it. For as through 12 to support “an inno- digestive system. First, the stu- long as there has been school vative school enrichment proj- dents determine what their bod- lunch, students have complained ect.” Seventy teams, each ies’ energy requirements are. about it. The value of an every- consisting of one math and one They then learn where they get day example, such as this one, is science teacher from the same this energy, what the body does that it delivers the material to the school, received this year’s prize. with it, where it is used, and what students. This project will hope- The duo’s winning lesson was happens if there are nutritional fully address what for many of the first D.C. public school-spon- deficiencies. By studying the them is a very serious concern: sored application chosen for this school lunch menu at Hardy, that their food taste good!” award in three years. they are learning if and how their Feinberg and Reheard will Feinberg, a science teacher, daily requirements are being receive their prize this June at a and Reheard, who teaches math, met. Ultimately the students will conference to be held in Wash- are on the seventh-grade faculty build a cost-effective, nutrition- ington, D.C. of the Hardy Middle School in ally balanced public school

C ENTENNIAL ACTIVITIES S HAPE U P

Plans for Carnegie’s centennial cele- cussions with Carnegie scientists, and A celebration of Andrew Carnegie’s bration are well under way. The exhi- an All-Carnegie Symposium on the philanthropy is scheduled for Monday, bition, Our Expanding Universe, will relationship between the physical and December 10, 2001, in New York City. open to the public on December 7, biological features of the Earth. The This event will gather the board mem- 2001, and run through May 31, 2002, symposium, which will be held at the bers from Carnegie’s many founda- at the administration building. The administration building, will begin Fri- tions for discussions and conversation. hours will be 12 to 5 p.m., Tuesday day evening, May 3, 2002, with a It will conclude with a concert at through Sunday, and 12 to 8 p.m. on keynote address. It will continue Carnegie Hall. Thursdays. A gala grand opening of through Saturday, May 4, and con- The Joseph Henry Press, an arm of the exhibition is scheduled for Thurs- clude with a barbecue picnic at the the National Academy Press, is pub- day, December 6, from 8 to 10 p.m. Broad Branch Road campus that lishing an illustrated book about the On Saturday, December 1, Carnegie evening. There are also plans for a history and achievements of the scientists, staff, and their families are contest for local students, who will be Carnegie Institution. James Trefil is cordially invited to preview the exhibit invited to produce a graphic design writing the book, which will be avail- from 2 until 4 p.m. based on Carnegie science. The win- able for the exhibition’s opening. Five The institution will also sponsor a ning design will appear on centennial departmental histories are also in the number of events during the centennial T-shirts. works. In addition, each of the five year, including screenings of five departments is planning its own cele- NOVA episodes accompanied by dis- bratory events.

4 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ FREE FLOATERS: ARE THEY PLANETS OR WHAT? ecently several different groups may be the responsible party allowing like stars. And this blurs a mass-based R of scientists have uncovered evi- stars to form with masses as low as distinction between stars and planets. dence for free-floating celestial objects about one Jupiter mass. In this case, These observations also raise an that have masses believed to be as low free-floating objects below 13 Jupiter important theoretical question: Can as 5 to 13 times the mass of Jupiter. masses would be best termed sub- very low mass, free-floating objects be Although they do not orbit a star, they brown dwarfs, not planets, formed directly in star-forming have been labeled planets by some according to Boss. regions, or must they form in because they are not massive enough Searches for very low planetary systems and later to burn deuterium. As astrophysicist mass, free-floating objects be ejected? Alan Boss of the in young star clusters, Stars form when dense Department of such as Orion, have clouds of gas and dust are Terrestrial Mag- revealed hundreds of driven to collapse by their netism says, brown dwarf candidates with own gravity. During this col- “This use of estimated masses below the lapse phase, protostellar clouds can the ‘p-word’ hydrogen-burning limit, equivalent to subdivide, or fragment, into objects of has created about 75 Jupiters. Some have even smaller and smaller mass until the considerable been found with inferred masses cloud begins to heat above its ini- controversy.” below the deuterium-burning limit of tial temperature, increasing the Many scientists think that it is unlikely 13 Jupiters. In other studies, radial pressure of the gas and help- that objects so low in mass could have velocity surveys have detected over 50 ing to stifle any further frag- formed in the same way in which stars likely planets orbiting Sun-like stars mentation. Theoretical esti- form, leading to the suggestion that with masses from lower than one Sat- mates of the minimum mass they were tossed out of planetary sys- urn mass to more than 15 Jupiters. Evi- of an object formed by this tems. A recent paper by Boss pub- dently the least massive floating process have predicted that no lished in the Astrophysical Journal objects can be less massive than the star could have a mass of less than (Letters) shows that magnetic fields heftiest planetary companions to Sun- about 3 to 10 Jupiter masses. Most continued on page 6

LA NIÑA BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY OF THE WORLD’S OCEANS

he climate cycle of El Niño and life on Earth. All plants harvest food is available for consumption by TLa Niña has been blamed for energy from the Sun and convert it animals, including humans. The severe weather conditions world- into growth through photosynthesis. 1997 launch of the satellite SeaWiFS wide, causing droughts in some The amount of growth is known as allowed scientists for the first time to areas and floods in others. Now sci- the net primary production (NPP). simultaneously measure the absorp- entists have evaluated the global- The more NPP there is, the more tion of sunlight by land and ocean scale impacts of the most recent plants, a key factor that determines cycle on the growth of land and NPP. The data were collected over ocean plants and found that over a the entire globe between September three-year period starting during El 1997 and August 2000. This period Niño and ending in La Niña, global includes the last part of the strong ocean productivity increased by El Niño of 1997-1998 and the nearly 10%. The investigators, who onset of La Niña, which continues included Christopher Field of to the present. Carnegie’s Department of Plant continued on page 6 Biology, reported their findings in This image was generated from data the March 30, 2001, issue of Science. obtained by the SeaWiFS satellite, which In contrast to the oceans, plant measured global plant growth, or net primary production (NPP). The top globe shows pro- growth on land did not change con- ductivity during the La Niña austral summer sistently during this period. “This from December 1998 to February 1999. study makes it clear that the ecology Frame B shows productivity at the boreal summer from June to August 1999. (Image of the global oceans reverberates reprinted with permission from Science 291, with the beat of El Niño,” says Field. p. 2596. Copyright 2001 American Associa- Plants provide food for nearly all tion for the Advancement of Science.)

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 5 continued from page 5

likely, such an object would end object at the cloud’s center. As a result, it begins to heat, leading to decom- up with a considerably higher the cloud remains more distended, pressional cooling and the formation mass because it would con- and thus more able to break up and of fragments of even smaller mass. tinue to gain material after fragment into objects of smaller mass. Boss finds that four fragments with it first formed. More than a Magnetic tension also helps the cloud masses as low as about one Saturn decade ago, Boss per- to rebound away from the center once mass may form in a single collapsing formed detailed computer cloud in this way. A system of four calculations of this process fragments is expected to be highly suggesting that the lowest-mass unstable and should decay by ejecting object formed by protostellar collapse single fragments; these would then should be well over 10 Jupiter masses. appear as isolated objects. The frag- All of the previous estimates of the ments would continue to gain mass minimum mass, however, neglected to rapidly only until they were ejected. As account for the effects of magnetic a result, their masses could be within fields. In a new set of detailed com- the range inferred for the Orion free puter calculations, Boss has included floaters. these effects on protostellar fragmenta- Boss suggests calling the free-floating tion in an approximation that is crude objects sub-brown but appears to capture the essence of dwarfs because the physical effects. As Boss explains, they probably “Magnetic fields can be thought of as formed in the stretched rubber bands, with a tension same way force that resists their being pinched that stars and together.” Because of this tension This model shows an unstable quadruple brown dwarfs force, during the star-formation protostar system consisting of sub- form but with process the magnetic fields help stop Jupiter-mass components. less mass, and as a the cloud from collapsing into a single result would be less luminous. continued from page 5

From their measurements, the increased availability of nutrients in SeaWiFS became available, it was investigators estimated the total several parts of the ocean, including impossible to accurately assess the NPP using an approach that inte- the equatorial Pacific, the South impacts for ocean production. Does grates two production models: the Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. La the cycle make a difference? “Yo u Carnegie-Ames-Stanford model for Niña changes ocean circulation in bet it does,” says Field. “Ocean land, and the Vertically Generalized these places in a way that brings processes ranging from fish produc- Production Model for the oceans. more nutrients to the surface, where tion to carbon storage are poten- Both models calculate NPP based they can be used by phytoplankton. tially affected by NPP. Now that we on a combination of light availabil- The SeaWiFS data also revealed a see the global patterns, we can ity, the fraction of sunlight that is striking difference between NPP in probe more effectively for underly- harvested, and the efficiency of pho- the northern and southern oceans. ing mechanisms.” tosynthesis and growth. This effi- In the northern oceans, a strong SeaWiFS is one of a number of ciency is sensitive to a number of summer bloom leads to very high recently launched satellite instru- environmental stresses. productivity from 50 to 70 degrees ments that open new doors in global The results showed large seasonal north, or about the latitude range ecology. With the quality and cover- and regional variations. On land, from the southern tip of England to age of the SeaWiFS data, scientists increased NPP in some places more the northern end of Finland. A com- really can study the whole planet as or less canceled decreased NPP in parable peak is absent from the if it were in their backyard. Accord- others. In the oceans, however, NPP southern oceans, probably because ing to Field, “We were blown away during El Niño was substantially productivity is limited by nutrients, at the magnitude of the NPP effect lower than during La Niña. The dif- especially iron. in the ocean. But I have a feeling ference is about 10% of ocean NPP, The El Niño/La Niña cycle has that is not the last surprise we will or about 5 billion tons of carbon per massive implications for agriculture see from the latest earth-observation year. The increased productivity and natural disasters in many parts satellites.” during La Niña appears to reflect of the world. Until the data from

6 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ . . . In the News . . . In the News . . . In the News . . . Senior trustee William Golden was Mark Phillips, associate director of A discovery made by the Geophysi- the subject of an article in the April 9, Las Campanas Observatory, was cited cal Lab’s Bob Hazen and colleagues issue of the New Yorker for receiving the in the April 3, New York Times about his was the News of the Week in the May 5, 2001 Scholar-Patriot Distinguished Ser- Hubble Space Telescope work in 1997 issue of Science News. The scientists vice Award from the American Acad- that captured an image of a distant showed that the common mineral cal- emy of Arts and Sciences. The prize is supernova. The image has been used as cite might have been the catalyst that given to those “who embody the Acad- evidence for the existence of dark sparked the transition from an era dom- emy’s 221-year-old commitment to pro- energy, or negative gravity, which is inated by to one dominated moting the arts and sciences in the thought to account for observations that by biology about 4 billion years ago. service of the community and nation.” the universe is expanding at an acceler- The finding was also reported in Chemi- Golden has made many important con- ating rate. cal & Engineering News. The BBC, Earth tributions to science over a long career, & Sky, and other media sources have including acting as advisor to President Theorist Alan Boss of the Depart- also interviewed Hazen on the subject. Truman on science-related matters. ment of Terrestrial Magnetism has been See page 10 for details on the research. Golden was also the subject of a major interviewed extensively about the feature in the May 1, New York Times. recent flurry of discoveries of extrasolar Valarie Miller-Bertoglio, a former objects. He was quoted in the April 17, student in Marnie Halpern’s lab, and Carnegie president Maxine Singer New York Times on his proposal to call Halpern herself were featured in an arti- was quoted in the May 11, issue of the “floating planets” sub-brown dwarfs. On cle about women scientists who choose Chronicle of Higher Education in an article April 27, the Washington Post recorded to be mothers. The article was in a spe- about the lack of ethnic and gender his thoughts on the discovery of infant cial edition of U.S. News & World Report. diversity in the membership of the planets forming in the Orion Nebula. Halpern, a mother of two, said that National Academy of Sciences. Singer, a Other publications that have sought women who want both science and member of the academy, said that “it’s Boss’s opinion include the Los Angeles family have to be tougher and more just astounding that in a lot of [scientific Times, the New Scientist, Science News, persistent than their male colleagues. disciplines] there’s not a woman who and Sky & Space. turns up on the final ballot, when you know that there are people doing inter- esting and exciting work in those fields.”

GENETICS OF FAT AN D CHOLESTEROL PROCESSING

cientists at Embryology have devel- larvae a custom-synthesized phospholipid lesterol in people. Basing their conclusion Soped a way to identify genes involved that emits a bright green fluorescence on an experiment they conducted incu- in the processing of cholesterol and fat; when digested. Phospholipids are fats that bating fish with atorvastatin (Lipitor by their method can also be used to dis- form cell membranes and cellular messen- Parke-Davis), they also claim that cover new cholesterol-controlling drugs. gers. The labeled lipids are able to reveal zebrafish should be as good as mice for Steven Farber, a former Carnegie Fel- lipid-processing enzymes that are produced identifying genes that are involved in low, worked in Marnie Halpern’s lab by specific genes in the digestive system. human lipid metabolism and lipid disor- when he conducted the work with coin- The researchers used the custom lipids ders. Lipitor, a widely prescribed drug vestigator Michael Pack of the University to screen zebrafish that carried a host of used to treat hypercholesterolemia, of Pennsylvania. The study, with unknown mutations. The goal was to find inhibits cholesterol synthesis. Fish on Lipi- Halpern as a collaborator, was published larvae whose digestive organs exhibited tor were barely able to digest the green in the May 18, 2001, issue of Science. The an atypical fluorescence after eating the fluorescent phospholipid, suggesting that results of the research will help identify lipids, indicating a mutation in a lipid-pro- the gall bladder genes responsible for atherosclerosis, dis- cessing gene. The team describes one did not release eases associated with bile secretion in the such mutation, which they named fat free, bile, which is liver, and some cancers. in their Science paper. Fish with a mutated necessary for fat Currently, there are only a few ongo- fat free gene appear to have normal diges- digestion. The scientists believe that the ing genetic screens that study vertebrate tive organs, but fail to accumulate the flu- drug works by inhibiting the synthesis of physiology. The screening method orescent lipid. They process fat and cholesterol-derived bile, which is required devised in this study, therefore, represents cholesterol at a significantly lower rate, for fat breakdown. A major effort to iden- an important milestone for the real-time leading the scientists to conclude that the tify the molecular identity of the fat free observations of lipid transport and pro- fat free gene may be a regulator of dietary gene is now under way in the Farber labo- cessing in live animals. The scientists used cholesterol use. ratory in the Kimmel Cancer Center at the tiny, clear zebrafish larva for their What does this mean for human lipid Thomas Jefferson University. research; its transparency allows them to disorders? The investigators suggest that watch what happens when fat and choles- drugs that interfere with the fat free gene terol are digested. They fed five-day-old may be a useful way to control high cho- Pictured above is an adult zebrafish.

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 7 Four new researchers are joining the Carnegie staff. Zhi-Yong Wang comes to Plant Biology from C A R N E G I E W E L C O M E S F O U R the Salk Institute and the Howard Hughes Med- ical Institute in San Diego, California. He received Steele. Steele has been consulting at NASA’s John- his Ph.D. in molecular, cell, and developmental son Space Center, astrobiology division, and serv- biology from the University of California, Los ing as an assistant research professor in the Angeles. The Geophysical Lab welcomes Andrew Department of Microbiology at Montana State University. He also lectures at the School of Earth, Environmental and Physical Sciences at the Uni- versity of Portsmouth in the , and hi-Yong Wang studies a plant steroid Zhormone called brassinosteroid, which is important to growth and devel- ndrew Steele uses high-magnification opment, particularly in respect to the way Amicroscopy and surface-sensitive analysis to light is used for growth. He is interested study a variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial in identifying and understanding the samples to establish biosignatures, which indicate genes involved in the series of signals that the presence of life. Some of the samples Steele ana- are required for the steroid to function in lyzes include microbial mats from hot springs, the model plant Arabidopsis. His ultimate Antarctic rocks, and Martian meteorites. Using goal is to unravel this molecular network approaches from biotechnology, he classifies micro- and determine how light, the brassinos- bial contamination of the extraterrestrial samples to teroid, and the circadian clock interact in determine whether microbiota found in these sam- plant development. His research is ples originate from Earth or from extraterrestrial advancing our understanding of the envi- sources. In addition, Steele is adapting microarray ronmental and hormonal cues that regu- technology used for DNA analysis on Earth to late plant growth, and will provide new space missions, which will look for life elsewhere. tools for improving plant productivity.

N EW FORM OF N ITROGEN: PRESSURIZED or the first time, scientists have first time that a team has been able ular state at pressures near 1 million Fsubjected condensed nitrogen to make electrical measurements on atmospheres (100 gigapascals) to gas to record pressures and turned any condensed gas under such become either a semiconductor or a the material into an opaque semi- extreme high-pressure conditions. metal. The latter would be similar to conducting solid. Mikhail Eremets, The new dense semiconducting solid , which was Russell Hemley, Ho-kwang Mao, form of nitrogen stores a large predicted more than 65 years ago, and Eugene Gregoryanz of the Geo- amount of energy and could poten- but has not yet been produced in physical Laboratory and the Center tially serve as a new energetic mate- the laboratory. for High Pressure Research at rial. Dense materials that have Because of technical constraints, Carnegie reported their results in formed from light elements might previous high-pressure experiments the May 10, 2001, issue of Nature. also be part of the cores of large gas were limited in the range of pres- In addition to pressurizing the planets. According to Hemley, “The sures that could be reached on two-atom molecule, which makes fact that the major portion of the air nitrogen and in the number of mea- up 75% of Earth’s atmosphere, to has been turned into a semiconduct- surements that could be performed almost 2.4 millions times the atmos- ing solid and brought back to be sta- while the gas was under pressure. pheric pressure at sea level (240 ble at ambient pressure is an Last year the Carnegie scientists gigapascals), the researchers were important breakthrough for us.” reported signs of the transformation able to recover the new nonmolecu- For years theorists have predicted at room temperature using optical lar material at atmospheric pressure. that molecular nitrogen, N2, would methods alone. The experiment also represents the undergo a transition to a nonmolec- In the present experiment, the

8 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ berger comes from UCLA, where she was a NIC- N E W S T A F F R E S E A R C H E R S MOS postdoctoral research astronomer. She received her Ph.D. from the California Institute of he is a visiting researcher at the Department of Technology. Sara Seager, who is also joining the Earth Sciences at Oxford. Steele received his DTM staff, is from the Institute for Advanced Ph.D. from the University of Portsmouth, where Study at Princeton. She received her Ph.D. from he studied environmental microbiology and Harvard studying extrasolar giant planets. biotechnology. The Department of Terrestrial Magnetism is gaining two new staff researchers. Alycia Wein- ara Seager’s research is in two very differ- Sent areas: cosmology and extrasolar plan- lycia Weinberger is studying planetary ets. In her cosmology work she studies what Asystem formation. Using infrared instru- happened in the early universe when electrons mentation, she detects and analyzes disks sur- and protons combined to form hydrogen and rounding stars of different ages and spectral helium. It was during this “recombination types to determine how the raw materials of epoch,” 300,000 years after the Big Bang, that dust and gas can form into and be sculpted by photons last interacted with matter. We see planets. Weinberger uses the Hubble Space them today as cosmic background radiation. Telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory in In her work on extrasolar planets, on which Hawaii for her observations. To complement she collaborates with both theoretical and this effort, she is working on adaptive optics observational groups, Seager has developed systems for ground-based telescopes. Adaptive models characterizing the atmospheres of gas optics technology corrects for the distorting giant planets that are in close proximity to effects of Earth’s atmosphere. their stars. This work is helping researchers to understand planetary evolution and formation, and to predict and interpret observations.

GAS BECOMES A SOLID SEMICONDUCTOR investigators used newly developed using so-called first-principles the- techniques that directly measure ory, which has been used exten- electrical conductivity of the mate- sively for predicting new rial while it is at varying tempera- properties, such as high-tempera- tures under very high pressure. ture superconductivity in metallic They found that nonmolecular hydrogen. semiconducting nitrogen can be The National Science Foundation maintained over a remarkably wide and the Carnegie Institution sup- pressure range, and that it can retain ported this work. this state when it is decompressed at low temperature. The observations of this new These are photomicrographs of a sample material suggest that other novel of nitrogen at 70 gigapascals (GPa) (top panel) and 193 GPa (bottom panel) at 80 high-density products made from K. At these low temperatures, nitrogen simple molecules—perhaps even transitions abruptly at 190 GPa to a non- solid metallic hydrogen—could be molecular solid. The sample is character- created at high pressure and recov- ized by contraction and darkening and the ered at ambient pressure conditions. loss of vibrational modes characteristic of molecular nitrogen. The platinum micro- The recent work also confirms the electrodes for measuring electrical con- prediction of the transition pressure ductivity of the sample are visible.

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 9 A S T R O B I O L O G I S T S C O N G R E G A T E A T C A R N E G I E

he 2001 general meeting of NASA’s found that increased pressure enhanced certain Astrobiology Institute (NAI) was held at reactions, which accelerated catabolic, or decompo- T Carnegie’s P Street building in Washington, sition, processes. They also examined the catalytic D.C., April 10-12. Several Carnegie scientists from properties of a naturally occurring transition metal the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism (DTM) sulfide—a compound where the mineral iron sulfide and the Geophysical Laboratory (GL) who are and organic molecules combine—to determine if it members of the institute gave talks and chaired ses- has a biochemical function. The researchers found sions. President Maxine Singer, a participant on the that in fact such compounds can promote reactions NAI director’s Science Council, began the program that could function biochemically, suggesting such by welcoming everyone and explaining how materials might be involved in promoting early life. Carnegie became one of the lead partners in the The combination of these potentially natural cata- NAI. She also talked about the educational pro- lysts with the citric acid system reveals a viable pre- grams at the Carnegie Academy for Science Educa- biotic pathway for useful carbon fixation. tion (CASE), which are part of this astrobiology work. Amino acids on early Biochemistry at Earth hydrothermal vents In the same session Bob Hazen, also from GL, talked about a discovery made by his group that George Cody of the Geophysical Lab gave the might explain one important step in the evolution first paper of the conference. The paper was coau- from the chemical world to the biological world of thored by colleagues at GL. Cody’s talk, “Could today. For a transition to occur amino acids—the Biochemistry Have Hydrothermal Origins?” building blocks of proteins in all living systems—had described experiments mimicking conditions at to link into chainlike molecules. This is a first step in high-pressure, high-temperature hydrothermal vents the formation of proteins with molecules of pure L at the ocean bottom. Among the broad range of amino acids, and D sugars as found in DNA and experiments conducted, the group looked at how RNA. The molecular structure of all but one amino pyruvic acid and citric acid systems responded to acid consists of an asymmetrical arrangement increases in pressure and temperature. The synthesis grouped around carbon. This means that there are of pyruvic acid and citric acid is crucial to the devel- two mirror-image forms of each amino acid, and opment of prebiotic carbon fixation pathways—the they have been designated left- and right-handed. process whereby carbon is incorporated into All of the chemistry of living systems is distin- organic molecules. Both compounds play critical guished by its use of these left- (L) and right-handed roles in energy production through metabolisms in (D), or chiral, molecules. Nonbiological processes, living organisms. In the citric acid system they on the other hand, do not usually distinguish between L and D variants. For the transition to occur between the chemical and biological eras, something had to separate and concentrate the left- and right-handed amino acids. The search for this mechanism has baffled researchers for more than half a century. Now, Hazen and Timothy Filley of Carnegie, and Glenn Good-

This picture was taken from the friend of George Washington ALVIN submersible during GL’s University, have found that John Frantz’s dive on the Juan when they exposed crystals of de Fuca Plate. The hydrogen the common mineral calcite fugacity measurement sensor is being deployed into an active to a dilute solution of the hydrothermal vent. (Image amino acid aspartic acid, the courtesy John Frantz.)

10 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ left- and right-handed the samples and found evidence that extraterres- molecules adsorbed trial heavy hydrogen was mixed in with terrestrial preferentially onto dif- hydrogen. Previous shock experiments had shown ferent faces of the cal- that water becomes isotopically heavy when sub- cite crystal. Calcite jected to conditions similar to the impact process crystals, common meteorites experienced when ejected from the today, were also preva- surface of Mars. The researchers believe that at lent during the Archean least some of the isotopic changes of the hydro- Era some 4 billion gen in the samples are a result of the impact years ago, when life process and are not simply an interaction with the first emerged. This Martian atmosphere. study suggests a plausi- ble process by which This is a photo of the mineral The latest on calcite. (Image courtesy Bob the mixed D and L Hazen.) amino acids in the very extrasolar planets dilute “primordial soup” could be both concentrated and selected on The final session of the conference, chaired by a readily available mineral surface. DTM’s Alan Boss, presented research on what we are finding outside our solar system. Paul Butler, The origin of water in also of DTM, gave a status report on the latest research in extrasolar planets. All of the 60 to 70 Martian meteorites “exoplanets” now found were discovered with the precision Doppler technique pioneered by Butler DTM director Sean Solomon chaired the session and longtime collaborator Geoffrey Marcy. Recent on what space missions will find on Mars, Europa, discoveries from the Butler/Marcy group include all and elsewhere. Nabil Boctor of GL presented results three of the multiple-planet systems thus far found, of research on the origin of extraterrestrial water in the only instance of planets locked in synchronous meteorites from Mars, on which he collaborated orbits, and the only known transit planet. On the with DTM’s Conel Alexander, Jianhua Wang, and basis of the current tally, it appears that between 7% Erik Hauri. Martian meteorites contain evidence of and 10% of stars have planets around them and that the environment in which they were formed. In par- most of the planets have masses equivalent to five ticular, hydrogen isotopes can yield information on Jupiters or less. The task for astrobiology is to find the history and sources of water, and this can help planets in solar systems similar to our own. Out of researchers determine if conditions once existed on the entire collection of exoplanets only one is in an Mars to support life. The Martian atmosphere has a Earth-like circular orbit. By 2010 the group will have ratio of deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen that is completed their survey of 2,000 Sun-like stars, at twice the element’s normal mass) to hydrogen that is which point researchers will have a better under- five times greater than that found standing of how typical a solar on Earth. Until recently, the high system like ours is. concentration of this so-called heavy hydrogen found in mete- orites has been explained by the interaction of water near the sur- face of Mars with the Martian atmosphere. The Carnegie scien- tists investigated seven Martian meteorites. They looked at the This is Martian meteorite EETA petrology, shock history, and com- 79001, one of the samples used in position of hydrogen isotopes in the study. (Image courtesy NASA.)

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 11 THE POSTDOC poorly compensated, have low status, and receive few benefits. At the same time, they make “creative and fun- PLIGHT damental contributions to research projects,” says Max- ine Singer, Carnegie’s president and chair of COSEPUP. There are some 52,000 post- The point of the recent gathering was to disseminate doctoral researchers working in information about the problem to affected groups and U.S. institutions. A conference get them moving toward solutions. Attendees included hosted earlier this year by the academic advisors, administrators, scientific organiza- Committee on Science, Engi- tions, and postdoctoral associations. Singer told Chemical neering and Public Policy & Engineering News that “it’s everybody’s responsibil- Maxine Singer (COSEPUP) of the National ity…everybody may have to ante up” to solve the com- Academies focused on chang- plex problem. More information on the subject can be ing the adverse conditions found at http://www4.nationalacademies.org/ under which many of these researchers work. Last fall pd/cosepup.nsf. COSEPUP issued a report citing that postdocs are

C ARNEGIE F RONTIERS s part of its astrobiology work, The series has an added feature. It Athe Carnegie Academy for Sci- employs a bar code-like technology ence Education (CASE) has pub- that allows readers to access related lished the first volume of a new series Web sites without having to type in of booklets called Carnegie Frontiers lengthy Universal Resource Locators to supplement science education in (URLs). A mouselike device called a kindergarten through grade 12. The :CueCat is used to swipe any of 10 first installment, Astrobiology: The bar codes that link the reader to spe- Search for Water, introduces the sci- cific Internet pages on subjects such ence of astrobiology, which is an as “extraterrestrial water” and “evi- interdisciplinary approach to under- dence from Mars.” standing the origins of life on Earth The booklets are being used as and its potential for existence else- part of the CASE curriculum and where. The text explores the impor- have been distributed to science tance of water to life on Earth and teachers nationwide through the examines the question of whether National Science Teachers Associa- water is necessary for life on other tion and NASA. celestial bodies as well.

This is a deep, near-infrared image of the elliptical galaxy NGC 5090 (center) and the spiral galaxy NGC 5091 (lower right), taken with the new Walter Baade 6.5-meter telescope at Carnegie’s Las Campanas Observatory. The globular clusters surrounding NGC 5090 are evident as faint, fuzzy points. The image was captured over 46 minutes using a CCD (charge-coupled device) of 2048 x 2048 pixels at 0.51 arc-second, which is excellent “seeing.” (Exposure taken by Alan Dressler of the Observato- ries on April 1, 2001.)

12 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ In Brief. . .

ADMINISTRATION Lawrence Giles, senior lab EMBRYOLOGY technician, to his lab. Maxine Singer was pro- Susan Cortinas, Postdoctoral fellow Ararat filed in the Radcliffe Quarterly for secretary/receptionist, and Erin Jan Ablooglu, from Mount her Sept. 26, 2000, discussion Desing, administrative assis- Sinai Graduate School of Bio- tant, joined the staff. on the genetic modification of Plant Biology’s logical Sciences and New York On Oct. 19 Chris plants at the second of the Rad- newest staff scientist U., joined the Halpern lab on cliffe Institute inaugural lec- Somerville gave a talk entitled Feb. 12. He is studying neu- Zhi-Yong Wang (see tures. She spoke on the same “The Future of Plant Biotech- ronal development in zebrafish. page 8.). topic at the Philosophical Soci- nology” at Rothamstead Exper- Tavon Burton joined the ety of Washington on Jan. 26, imental Station in Harpenden, Pat McCarthy participated Halpern lab as a new animal- 2001, and also on Feb. 23 at a England. Three days later, he in the Science Oversight Com- care technician. symposium in memory of Car- spoke on “Mutant Analysis of mittee meeting for the Wide Postdoc Amy Rubinstein los Chagas at the Pontifical Early Pattern Formation in Ara- Field Camera 3 for the Hubble accepted a position at Zygogen, Academy of Science, Vatican bidopsis” at a conference on Space Telescope and gave a a new zebrafish biotechnology City. plant development in Capri, presentation entitled “Deep company in Atlanta. CASE/First Light’s Greg Italy. Panochromatic Surveys of Faint Erika Matunis received an Taylor has been accepted into On Nov. 9 Shauna Galaxies from Orbit.” R01 Award for her study “Con- the Intel Master Teacher Pro- Somerville gave a talk at the Wendy Freedman, trol of Stem Cell Fate in gram. Upon completion of the Academia Sinica in Taiwan as Michael Rauch, François Drosophila Spermatogenesis” program, Greg will receive a part of the Symposium on Plant Schweizer, and Scott Trager from the National Institute of $5,000 cash grant for First Light Science for the 21st Century. participated in an international Child Health and Human to purchase computer equip- In Dec. Winslow Briggs conference on Astrophysical Development, National Insti- ment. Intel Master Teachers are participated as an invited Ages and Timescales held in tutes of Health. Erika has also also expected to train at least 40 speaker in a symposium on Hilo, HI, Feb. 5-9. Freedman been invited to lecture at the other teachers over the next plant signaling held at U. summarized her team’s finding 16th Testis Workshop, “Regula- two years. Bochum, , and also on the Hubble constant and age tory Mechanisms of Testicular presented a seminar, “The Pho- of the universe, and Trager pre- Cell Differentiation.” PLANT BIOLOGY totropin Family of Plant Pho- sented results on the formation Alejandro Sánchez toreceptors,” at U. Freiburg. timescale of elliptical galaxies Alvarado and his lab’s Shauna Somerville’s lab wel- From Dec. 7 to Dec. 13, and bulges. Following the meet- research on planarians were comed Miroslova Kaloper, Margarita Garcia-Hernandez ing, Schweizer participated in a featured in the Feb. 2001 issue computer analyst; Damares and Eva Huala attended the guided tour of the Gemini of Findings, a publication of the Monte, postdoctoral research Arabidopsis Genome Meeting at North 8-m telescope and the NIH’s National Institute of assistant from EMBRAPA in Cold Spring Harbor Labora- Subaru 8.2-m telescope atop General Medical Sciences. Brazil; Laurent Zimmerli, tory. Margarita gave a talk on Mauna Kea. Dr. Chiyoko Kobayashi postdoctoral research assistant “The Arabidopsis Information In Jan. Schweizer also vis- returned to U. Okayama in from U. Fribourg, Switzerland; Resource (TAIR): A Compre- ited the Gemini South 8-m tele- after spending five and Serry Koh, postdoctoral hensive Database for Arabidopsis scope on Cerro Pachon and the months in the laboratory of research assistant from U. Ten- thaliana.” Cerro Tololo Observatory as Sánchez Alvarado training in nessee. From Jan. 13 to Jan. 18, part of a joint meeting held in the use of double-stranded Chris Field’s lab welcomed 2001, Sue Rhee and Leonore La Serena, Chile, by the AURA RNA to study neuronal activity Florent Mouillot, postdoctoral Reiser attended the Plant and Observatories Council and the in planarians. research assistant from U. Cor- Animal Genome Meeting in AURA Oversight Committee Jim Wilhelm has been sica, ; Emily Goodwin, San Diego, CA. Sue Rhee gave for Gemini. awarded a Life Sciences lab assistant; and Forrest Fleis- a talk entitled “Integration of Carnegie Fellow Jason Pro- Research Foundation Fellow- chman, lab assistant. Arabidopsis Data via the Web.” chaska has just been awarded a ship beginning June 1, 2001. Arthur Grossman’s lab wel- Leonore Reiser spoke on Hubble Fellowship, which he Wilhelm will be giving the comed Wing-On Ng, postdoc- “Development of Controlled intends to use to pursue his Larry Sandler Memorial Lec- toral research assistant from Vocabularies for The Arabidopsis research at the Observatories. ture on his thesis research at the Washington U., St. Louis, and Information Resource (TAIR) Rebecca Bernstein gave an annual Drosophila research Melynda Barnes, lab assistant. Database.” invited talk at the Feb. 2001 meeting. Sue Rhee’s lab welcomed Conference of the American Olayemi (Yemi) Ikusika Jill Larimore, lab assistant OBSERVATORIES Association for the Advance- has joined the Wilhelm lab. from Foothill Coll., Los Altos ment of Science in a session Postdoctoral fellow Andrew Hills, CA; Holly Nottage, Many astronomers from the called “Assembling the Uni- Wilde accepted a position as an curator intern, also from Observatories, including Scott verse: The History of Star For- assistant professor at U. Foothill Coll.; Bryan Murtha, Chapman, Hsiao-Wen Chen, mation.” Toronto. Web-application developer; Alan Dressler, Luis Ho, Paul New members of the Jungwon Yoon, curator assis- Martini, Pat McCarthy, John Zheng lab are Drs. tant; Bengt Anell, predoctoral Mulchaey, Jason Prochaska, A scientific workshop in Ming-Ying Tsai (UT research assistant from Uppsala Michael Rauch, and François honor of Ray Weymann was Southwestern Medical Schweizer, attended the 197th Center), Shinichi U., Sweden; and Aisling held at the Observatories on Doyle, curator intern from Ire- meeting of the American Astro- Kawaguchi (Osaka U., land. nomical Society, held in Jan. in April 4-6. The title of the Japan), Hoi Yeung Li Dave Ehrhardt welcomed San Diego. Pat McCarthy gave workshop was “Extragalactic (Hong Kong Chinese Jan McConnell, postdoctoral a talk entitled “The Clustering Gas at Low Redshift.” Over U., Hong Kong), and of Faint Red Galaxies in the Las graduate student Kan research assistant from U. Wis- 80 scientists from around the consin, Madison, to his lab. Campanas IR Survey” at the Cao (Johns Hopkins Joe Berry welcomed meeting. world attended the event. U.).

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 13 Plant Biology’s Chris

In GEOPHYSICAL port News, VA. From Feb. 2 to Field and GL’s Russell GL/DTM LABORATORY Feb. 4 he attended the San Diego Mineral Physics Work- Hemley were elected to Ken Nealson, direc- Brief. . Robert Hazen gave the first shop. the membership of the tor of the Center for Life Distinguished Lecture Series The Hatten S. Yoder, Jr., National Academy of Detection at the Jet presentation at the Smithsonian 80th birthday symposium and Propulsion Laboratory, Institution on “Emergence and dinner was held on Mar. 24. Sciences at the Acad- has been appointed the the Origin of Life.” He Co-workers and colleagues emy’s 138th annual Cecil and Ida Green appeared on Virginia Public from GL and around the world Senior Visiting Fellow. Radio’s With Good Reason in a presented talks covering many meeting. Dr. Nealson works in program on high-pressure aspects of igneous petrology. the field of astrobiology, research. In Jan. he spent a On Jan. 16 Hatten Yoder developing methods to week as Visiting Investigator at met with Congresswoman Con- Achintya Madduri, son of detect life forms on other plan- UC-Santa Cruz, where he stance Morella and the staff Maddury Somayazulu and a ets, specifically Mars. He also worked with chemistry profes- director of the U.S. House of senior at Thomas Jefferson investigates early life on Earth, sor David Deamer on the Representatives Subcommittee High School for Science and and the biogeochemistry of hydrothermal synthesis of mol- on Technology, Jeffrey H. Technology in Alexandria, VA, metals. The Cecil and Ida ecules that form membranelike Grove, to discuss the problem was a finalist in the Intel Green Foundation has con- structures. of future U.S. accessibility to National Science Talent Search. tributed funds to support visit- On Jan. 10 David Mao dwindling mineral resources. While working on the project ing scientists at the Carnegie gave an invited talk, “High Yoder was also elected an hon- “Pressure-Induced Transforma- Institution. The foundation, orary fellow of the World Inno- tions in Molecular Solids—N O Pressure—A New Dimension in 2 established in 1958, is known vation Foundation. Lastly, in and CO2” Madduri mentored at for its contributions to educa- recognition of his service dur- GL in Rus Hemley’s labora- tion, health services, and scien- ing the Cold War, Yoder tory. Lora Armstrong, a senior tific research. received a certificate of recogni- at Montgomery Blair High Francis Boyd, Richard tion from the secretary of School in Maryland, was Carlson, David Mao, Steven defense for “promoting peace selected as a semifinalist in the Shirey, and former DTM post- and stability for this nation.” Intel National Science Talent doctoral fellows Sonia Esper- Yoder served as a navy meteor- Search. She worked with Bjørn ança and Graham Pearson ologist at the U.S. Weather Mysen as a summer intern for participated in the White House Central in Siberia, which was two years on a project studying Diamond Conference: Tech- established to forecast the the solution behavior of major nologies for Identification and weather for the planned inva- elements in aqueous fluids and Certification in Jan. The confer- sion of Japan in Nov. 1945. element partitioning between ence was sponsored by the Shown (from left) are GL’s Visiting Guk Lac Kim, who has aqueous fluids and silicate melts White House Office of Science Investigator Guk Lac Kim, postdoc- been appointed Visiting Investi- at high pressure and tempera- and Technology Policy. Discus- toral associate Guixing Hu, and gator at GL, is also a postdoc- ture. sions centered on defining the Visiting Investigator Pei-Ling toral fellow at the Smithsonian In Feb. Jie Li, James Van technical capacities and limita- Wang. All are currently working in Institution, where he is working Orman, and Bill Minarik tions of chemical and physical Doug Rumble’s lab. with Glenn MacPherson on journeyed to the Kobe region analyses to distinguish illegally meteorites. At GL, Kim will be of Japan to use the Spring-8 traded diamonds, the profits using Doug Rumble’s labora- synchrotron facility. There they from which fund the conflicts in Studies of Earth and Planetary tory facilities to analyze chon- were joined by former GL central Africa that have dis- Interiors,” at the Geological dritic meteorites, focusing researchers Kei Hirose (Tokyo placed millions of people and Society of Washington. Mao special attention on individual Inst. Technology) and Mike produced egregious human also gave an invited talk for the chondrules and CAI minerals. Walter (Okayama U.). Their rights violations. Zhong Guan Cun Forum of Fraukje Brouwer (Utrecht experiments are a continuation Broad Branch Road facility Condensed Matter Physics at U.) has been appointed a Visit- of a project begun at Spring-8 manager Mike Day accepted a the Institute of Physics, Chinese ing Investigator at GL and will in Apr. 2000 to calibrate the position as director of mainte- Academy of Sciences, on Nov. also be working in Doug Rum- equations of state (EOS) of sev- nance and operations for the 3, and an invited talk at the ble’s laboratory. eral cubic metals against one Arlington, VA, public school Symposium on Strongly Corre- Wendy Mao (MIT) has another, and to tie the phase- system. He was honored at the lated Electron Phase under been appointed a graduate transformation pressures of sev- spring picnic held on Apr. 6. Multiple Environments organ- intern and will be working with eral binary silicate systems to Roy Dingus has been ized by Osaka U., Japan, on Dave Mao and others in the the EOS of gold. appointed the new facility man- Nov. 8. He participated in the area of high-pressure physics, Rus and Amanda are ager. Roy first joined the ERL (Energy Recovery Linac) chemistry, and materials pleased to announce the arrival Carnegie staff in 1984 as an Workshop on Novel Science at research. of Emerson Davis Hemley, instrument maker at the Geo- Cornell U. Dec. 2-3. At the fall George Cody participated who came into this world on physical AGU meeting in San Francisco in the 2000 International Jan. 19, 2001. Labora- Mao gave an invited talk, Chemical Congress of Pacific tory. Basin Societies, where he pre- “Dynamics of hcp Iron at Core Shown (from left) are DTM’s Paul But- Conditions,” and on Jan. 19 he sented two invited talks, one on “Hydrothermal Organic Chem- ler, and Geoffrey Marcy and Debra Fis- delivered another invited talk, cher of UC-Berkeley at a press “High Pressure—A New Dimen- istry and the Origins of Life,” conference at the AAS meeting in San sion in Physical Science,” at the and the other titled “From Bio- Diego in Jan., announcing the discovery Laser Processing Consortium macromolecules to Geomacro- (LPC) Workshop and FEL User molecules—A Complex of two bizarre new multiplanet systems Meeting at Jefferson Lab., New- Evolutionary Tale.” around nearby stars.

14 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ Shown (from left) are DTM’s Alan Linde and Michael Acierno, and JAMSTEC’s TERRESTRIAL zone and island arc. In Eiichiro Arcki and Kyohiko Mit- MAGNETISM Professor Robert Tucker of suzawa, in front of the the Dept. of Earth and Plane- remotely operated sub- Brief. . Sean Solomon delivered tary Sciences, Washington U., mersible vehicle Hyper-Dol- ended his six-month sabbatical the Harold Masursky Lecture at phin on board the JAMSTEC the Lunar and Planetary Sci- at DTM in Dec. A geologist and ship Keiyo. The Keiyo cruised ence Conference in Mar. He geochronologist, Tucker applies off the coast of Tohoku, also gave a seminar at Johns U-Pb dating to unravel the geo- Hopkins U. in Feb., and spoke Japan, in Nov., servicing logical evolution of mountain to the National Astronomers in ocean-bottom borehole sites. belts, cratons, island arcs, and Dec. and the Potomac Geo- hot spots. presentations at the conference Orman presented papers at the physical Society in Feb. In Apr. Visiting Investigator Steven were former postdoctoral fel- 32nd Lunar and Planetary Sci- he participated in an Academic Vogt returned in Dec. to the lows Malcolm Sambridge ence Conference in Houston in Program Review for the Dept. Lick Observatory. He spent five (1988-1989) and Mark Harri- Mar. of Geosciences at U. Arizona. months at DTM working with son (1981-1982), the latter of Visiting Investigator V. Alan Boss chaired a group Paul Butler on their latest extra- whom will assume the director- Rama Murthy, Institute of for the NASA Astrobiology solar planet finds as well as on ship of the Research School of Technology Distinguished Pro- Institute review panel meeting the manufacture of more iodine Earth Sciences in June of this fessor in the Dept. of Geology held in Monterey, CA, in Dec. cells for planet searches on new year. and Geophysics, U. Minnesota, In Jan. Boss spoke about extra- telescopes. Vera Rubin spoke at the is visiting DTM and GL this solar planets and models of Other recent visitors include luncheon in honor of E. Mar- semester to continue his work their formation in two talks at Vickie Bennett (Australian garet Burbidge at the American on the chemical evolution of the Dept. of Physics and National U.), Shan Gao (China Astronomical Society meeting the Earth and planets. Astronomy at Northwestern U. U. of Geosciences), Philip Jan- in San Diego in Jan. In Mar. Postdoctoral associate Lau- Boss reviewed models of trig- ney (Field Museum of Natural she participated in the National rie Benton left DTM in Dec. to gered star formation and shock- History, Chicago), and Darin Academy of Sciences panel on join the environmental group at wave injection at the Royal Snyder (Miami U.). “Enhancing the Postdoctoral Exponent in Bellevue, WA. At Society discussion meeting, Experience,” was the keynote DTM she worked on the Li iso- “Origin and Early Evolution of speaker at the Towson U. tope geochemistry of serpentine Solid Matter in the Solar Sys- Women in Science Program, seamounts and arc volcanic tem,” held in London, England, and was a judge for the Intel rocks in the Marianas, and on One of DTM’s in Feb. He spoke about gas National Science Talent Search. developing methodology for giant planet formation in Mar. newest staff sci- Rubin was appointed a senior measuring B isotope composi- at the Dept. of Physics and entists Alycia fellow in the department as of tions on the Axiom ICP-MS. Astronomy at U. Rochester, Weinberger. (See Apr. 1. Harry Oscar Wood Fellow NY. page 9.) Paul Silver organized the Matthew Fouch moved in Paul Butler delivered a col- Second Plate Boundary Obser- Dec. to the Dept. of Geological loquium on extrasolar planets vatory Workshop in Palm Sciences, Arizona State U., as at the Dept of Physics, Arizona Springs from Oct. 28 to Nov. 2, an assistant professor. At DTM State U., in Dec. He was an with Selwyn Sacks and Alan he led the tomographic imaging Chris McCarthy (left) and Petrus le invited panelist on astrophysics Linde among the 125 partici- of the mantle structure of south- and astrobiology at the World Roux, who both arrived in March to pants. He visited the Institute of ern Africa obtained from the Economic Forum in Davos, take up NSF postdoctoral positions, Earth Sciences, Academia inversion of shear-wave arrival Switzerland, in Jan. On Apr. 30 are shown in the DTM library. Sinica, Taiwan, from Jan. 26 times at the portable broadband Paul Butler and Geoffrey Marcy McCarthy will work with Paul Butler through Feb. 3 to assist in the stations of the Kaapvaal craton were awarded the Henry on the measurement of precise stel- establishment of a Taiwan Plate project. He also contributed Draper Medal at the National lar radial velocities for planet detec- Boundary Observatory, and he substantially to the field servic- Academy of Sciences’ 138th tion. Geologist and geochemist le plans to return for a workshop ing of the network during its meeting. The award recognizes Roux received his Ph.D. in June 2000 in Oct. 2001. Institute director final year of operation. their “pioneering investigations from U. CapeTown. At DTM he is uti- Typhoon Lee is a former DTM Visiting Investigator of planets orbiting other stars lizing the ion microprobe and multi- scientific staff member. Silver Stephen Alexander has via high-precision radial veloci- collector inductively coupled plasma gave seminars at Duke U. in returned to his position as an ties.” Nov. and Penn State in Dec. associate professor of physics at mass spectrometers to determine the David James delivered an DTM attendees at the fall Miami U. after spending the abundances and isotopic composi- invited lecture entitled “Forma- AGU meeting in San Francisco winter working with George tions of volatile (H, C, S, Cl) and light tion and Evolution of Archaean included Alan Linde, Selwyn Wetherill and Alan Boss. He (Li, B) elements in basalt glasses col- Cratons: Insights from the Sacks, Paul Silver, Sean worked on scientific topics and lected by Steve Shirey from the East Kaapvaal Project of Southern Solomon, and Fouad Tera, on the development of com- Pacific Rise. Africa” at the Hales Sympo- and postdoctoral fellows Jon puter codes that made optimum sium sponsored by the Aurnou, Andrew Freed, and use of Alan’s workstation clus- Research School of Earth Sci- Fenglin Niu. ter. ences of Australian National U. Conel Alexander, Alan Julie Morris, a Visiting in Canberra. The symposium, Boss, Erik Hauri, Larry Nit- Investigator at DTM for the held in Feb., was in celebration tler, Paul Silver, Sean past semester, returned in Dec. of Anton Hales’s 90th birthday Solomon, Fouad Tera, and to the Dept. of Earth and Plane- and was a highlight of a longer George Wetherill, and post- tary Sciences, Washington U., four-day conference entitled doctoral fellows Andrew Dom- St. Louis. At DTM she worked “Exploring the Earth: A Cele- bard, Stephen Kortenkamp, on the B and Li isotope system- bration of Four Journeys.” Karl Kehm, and James Van atics of the Mariana subduction Among those giving invited

SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖ 15 TRUSTEE AND FORMER CARNEGIE PRESIDENT JAMES D. EBERT AND WIFE, ALMA, DIE ames D. Ebert, 79, trustee, former president of the Carnegie Insti- Ebert received many awards Jtution and former director of the Department of Embryology, and served on a number of advi- and his wife, Alma, 78, died in an automobile accident near Balti- sory panels over his long and more on May 22, 2001. Ebert was affiliated with Carnegie for 45 fruitful career. Among his affilia- years. During World War II Lieutenant Ebert served in the U.S. tions, he was elected vice presi- Navy; he was decorated with the Purple Heart. He received his dent of the National Academy of James Ebert and wife, Alma, in Ph.D. in experimental embryology from the Johns Hopkins Uni- Sciences, a fellow of the Ameri- 1979. versity in 1950 and then served on the faculties of the Massachu- can Academy of Arts and Sci- setts Institute of Technology and Indiana University. He directed ences, a member of the American Philosophical Society, and a the Department of Embryology from 1956 until 1976. For several of member of the Institute of Medicine. Alma was active in fund-rais- those years he concurrently served as president and director of the ing for Carnegie and Woods Hole, and volunteered in the Balti- Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Dur- more public schools. The Eberts are survived by their three ing his tenure at Embryology, Ebert forged a close relationship children, Frances Schwartz of Dublin, Maryland, David of Cape between Hopkins and Carnegie, and he was instrumental in bol- Coral, Florida, Rebecca Coyle of Owings Mills, Maryland, seven stering a new research focus on developmental mechanisms at the grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. A memorial service was cellular and molecular levels. He became president of Carnegie in held at Mudd Hall on the Hopkins campus on May 31, 2001. 1978, a position he held until 1987.

Capital Science Lecture Series 2001-2002 H. Clark Dalton and his wife, Ellie, now residents of Kauai, Hawaii, contributed their memories and photos to The speakers for next season’s Capital Science Lecture Series the upcoming centennial exhibition opening this December are listed below. All lectures are on Tuesday evenings starting at at the Carnegie administration building in Washington, D.C. 6:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Building, 1530 P St., N.W., Washing- Dalton, now 86, was a post- ton, D.C. Schedule subject to change. doc at Cold Spring Harbor from 1948 through 1950, October 23: Michael Rabin, Harvard University working with Barbara Theoretical approaches to computer security McClintock on her genetic November 27: Jack Szostak, Harvard Medical School studies of corn. The Daltons Origins of cellular life have donated four photos of December 11: Jasper Rine, University of California, Berkeley the lab where he worked, a letter from McClintock, and a taped interview in which they DNA replication, the cell cycle, and silencing reminisce about that time. They have been loyal supporters January 15: Linda Griffith, Massachusetts Institute of Technology of Carnegie scientists for many years. Tissue engineering February 5: Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University Dynamics of Earth’s ecosystems March 12: Susan Lindquist, University of Chicago Protein-folding and prions David Singer, son of Carnegie presi- March 19: Robert Kirshner, Harvard University dent Maxine Singer and a Yale alumnus, Cosmology and supernovae recently gave a gift to Yale University to establish the Maxine F. Singer (Ph.D. April 9: Daphne Preuss, University of Chicago Yale, 1957) Professorship in the Biological Plant reproduction and development Sciences. The endowment will support an May 7: Steven Pinker, Massachusetts Institute of Technolgy exceptional nontenured faculty scholar. Language and cognition

What’s New on the Web The Carnegie Institution of Washington is committed to the national policy of fair treatment of all employees in all aspects of employment. The institution does not discrimi- The Carnegie Institution Academic Catalog 2001-2003 is now nate against any person on the basis of race, color, reli- available on the Web. Expanded versions of the 1999/2000 Year Book gion, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, disability, veteran and videos of the Capital Science Lectures are also posted. See the status, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law. This policy covers all programs, activities, and operations home page, www.CarnegieInstitution.org, to access the new material. of the institution, including the administration of its edu- If you have any suggestions for improving the site, please contact cational program, admission of qualified students as fel- John Strom at [email protected]. lows, and employment practices and procedures.

16 ❖ SUMMER 2001 ❖ SPECTRA: THE NEWSLETTER OF THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION ❖