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An Evolving Astrobiology Glossary Bioastronomy 2007: Molecules, Microbes, and Extraterrestrial Life ASP Conference Series, Vol. 420, 2009 K. J. Meech, J. V. Keane, M. J. Mumma, J. L. Siefert, and D. J. Werthimer, eds. An Evolving Astrobiology Glossary K. J. Meech1 and W. W. Dolci2 1Institute for Astronomy, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 2NASA Astrobiology Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 247-6, Moffett Field, CA 94035 Abstract. One of the resources that evolved from the Bioastronomy 2007 meeting was an online interdisciplinary glossary of terms that might not be uni- versally familiar to researchers in all sub-disciplines feeding into astrobiology. In order to facilitate comprehension of the presentations during the meeting, a database driven web tool for online glossary definitions was developed and participants were invited to contribute prior to the meeting. The glossary was downloaded and included in the conference registration materials for use at the meeting. The glossary web tool is has now been delivered to the NASA Astro- biology Institute so that it can continue to grow as an evolving resource for the astrobiology community. 1. Introduction Interdisciplinary research does not come about simply by facilitating occasions for scientists of various disciplines to come together at meetings, or work in close proximity. Interdisciplinarity is achieved when the total of the research expe- rience is greater than the sum of its parts, when new research insights evolve because of questions that are driven by new perspectives. Interdisciplinary re- search foci often attack broad, paradigm-changing questions that can only be answered with the combined approaches from a number of disciplines. However, most scientists are trained in a specific discipline, which often narrows as one advances in a career. It is difficult to be both expert in a field and possess great breadth. In order to facilitate a new style of interdisciplinary research, scientists need to be exposed to interdisciplinary approaches early in their careers, both through graduate training programs, such as the many astrobiology summer and winter schools that have become available (http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/nai/careers/), and through interdisciplinary workshops and meetings. As an outgrowth of dis- cussions between graduate students and scientists attending the NASA Astrobi- ology Institute (NAI) general meeting in 2001, NAI supported the development of an Astrobiology Primer (Mix et al., ed. 2006) as a concise reference tool for astrobiology. While not intended to be a textbook, it was developed to be a resource for students newly entering the interdisciplinary field of astrobiology. At nearly the same time, an astrobiology glossary of about 1000 terms was pub- lished (Gargaud et al. 2006) as a companion to a special astrobiology issue of Earth, Moon and Planets. It is intended that this also grow into an evolving document that will be more like an astrobiology encyclopedia. 489 490 Meech and Dolci In a pre-conference effort to encourage the speakers at the Bioastronomy 2007 meeting to present their research in a manner accessible to the participants who were drawn from many disciplines, we developed a data-base driven on-line system for entry of discipline-specific terms and their definitions. Each presenter was asked to go through their presentations and select all the terms that were specific to their sub-discipline, but might not be familiar to other disciplines and to define them online. Many meeting attendees participated in this activity, often having several definitions for the same terms, but from different disciplines. The glossary below is the product of this activity. After each term and its definition, the discipline for which the term is defined is indicated in parentheses. The glossary is available on the NASA Astrobiology Program website at: http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/glossary/. New terms may be submitted by filling out a form on the glossary website. In the spirit of Web 2.0, evolution of the glossary into a wiki or similar interactive community effort is being considered. An online interactive glossary could be used to promote interdisciplinary under- standing at future astrobiology meetings, as a download for laptops or smart phones for example, or for communicating terms in real time during talks via social media such as Facebook or Twitter. Glossary entries could also be linked to stories on the Astrobiology Program website so that the reader can have easy access to definitions of unknown terms. Acknowledgments. Many attendees of the Bioastronomy 2007 meeting contributed definitions to the glossary. In particular, we would like to thank MingHui Chen, who set up the database-driven interactive web page, and the Univ. of Hawai’i NAI postdocs for their help in proof reading: L. Chizmadia, N. Haghighipour, J. Keane, J. Kleyna, G. Phillip, J. Pittichov´a, K. Stockstill, and W. Zheng. This material is based upon work supported by the National Aero- nautics and Space Administration through the NASA Astrobiology Institute under Cooperative Agreement No. NNA04CC08A issued through the Science Mission Directorate. References Mix, L. J., Armsron, J. C, Mandell, A. M., Mosier, A. C, Raymond, J., Raymond, S. N., Steward, F. J., von Braun, K., & Zhaxybayeva, O. 2006, Astrobiology, 6, 735 Gargaud, M., Claeys, Ph., Martin, H. 2006, Earth, Moon & Planets, 98, 319 • 16S rRNA 70S – Ribosome is composed of 2 subunits: 50S and 30S. 30S subunit is composed of 21 ribosomal proteins and 16S ribosomal RNA. Evolution of 16S rRNA is extremely conserved throughout all life domains due to the crucial function in the production of proteins. 16S is the most used phylogenetic marker. (Molecular Biology) • accretion – Accumulation of dust and gas into larger bodies such as stars, planets and moons, or as discs around existing body. An accretion disc (or accretion disk) is a structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a central body. Instabilities within the disc redistribute angular momentum, causing material in the disc to spiral inward towards the central body. (Astronomy) • acetaldehyde – CH3CHO. (Organic Chemistry) An Evolvoing Astrobiology Glossary 491 • acetamide – CH3CONH2. (Organic Chemistry) • acetic acid – CH3COOH. (Organic Chemistry) • acetonitrile – CH3CN, cyanomethane, methyl cyanide. (Organic Chem- istry) • acetyltransferase – An enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of acetyl (the acetic acid radical CH3CO) groups from one compound to another. (Bi- ology) • acidithiobacillus – A genus of proteobacteria. The members of this genus used to belong to Thiobacillus, before they were reclassified in the year 2000. (Biology) • active SETI – Deliberate transmission of messages from Earth, for the purpose of initiating communication with Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. Also known as METI (Messaging to Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). (SETI) • adenine – One of the four nuclear bases of ADN and ARN, and a com- ponent of ATP. This molecule of global formula H5C5N5 is a puric base (derivative of purine) and is made of two heterocycles of 5 and 6-atoms. It plays an important role in the living world as component of nucleotides. (Biochemistry) • aeolian – Caused by, or carried by the wind. Also spelled eolian. (Geology) • aerogel – A low-density solid-state material derived from silicone gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with gas. The result is an extremely low density solid with several remarkable proper- ties, most notably its effectiveness as an insulator. It is nicknamed frozen smoke, solid smoke or blue smoke due to its semi-transparent nature and the way light scatters in the material. Aerogel was used as the high speed capture medium for comet dust by the Genesis and Stardust spacecraft. (Chemistry, Space Exploration) • aerosol – This term technically refers to airborne solid particles (also called dust or particulate matter) or liquid droplets. (Chemistry, Physics) • Afrho – Standard planetary science abbreviation (Afρ) used in cometary studies. The value is a proxy for the dust production of a comet. (Astron- omy) • albedo – Albedo (often geometric albedo) is defined in various ways, but is fundamentally the ratio of the intensity of light diffusely reflected from a surface to the intensity of the incident light (usually sunlight). Fresh snow has an albedo of about 0.9, while powdered elemental carbon has albedo less than 0.05. (Planetary Science) • aliphatic hydrocarbons – The simplest organic compounds, containing straight chains of carbon and hydrogen. (Organic chemistry) 492 Meech and Dolci • alkaliphilic – Organisms that grow optimally or very well at pH values above 9, often between 10 and 12, but cannot grow or grow only slowly at the near-neutral pH value of 6.5. (Biology) • Allen array – A joint project of the SETI Institute and the University of California at Berkeley, the facility is a radio interferometer array of 6m antennas that operate at cm-wavelengths. Eventually the array will have 350 dishes and conduct targeted and survey SETI observations, as well as radio astronomy programs. (SETI) • Amadori rearrangement – One of the steps in the Maillard reaction (see Maillard reaction). An organic reaction describing an acid or base catalyzed reaction important in carbohydrate chemistry. (Organic Chem- istry) • amino acids – A general class of organic molecules with a tetravalent carbon atom bonded to a hydrogen atom, an amino group (NH2), a car- boxyl group (COOH), and an organic group (R) giving a general formula CHR(NH2)COOH; slight variations on this general formula are known. (Organic Chemistry) • amorphization – The process of turning into an amorphous phase. Amor- phous refers to a lack of order in the arrangement of the atoms. (Physics, Geology) • amorphous ice – Phase of water ice in which there is no long-range order of the positions of the atoms (as opposed to crystalline ice; see definition of mineral). Amorphous ice forms when water vapor condenses on a surface maintained below ∼120K. (Astrochemistry) • amphibole – An important group of rock-forming, hydrated (containing an OH group) silicate minerals that form prism or needle-like crystals (see definition of silicate).
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