Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Mike Callahan
Karen and Mike published a new paper in Nature Communications, which received international media attention (covered by >40 news outlets, see Altmetric score). For this research, we developed analytical methods to extract and measure ancient traces of cyanide in meteorites. We also discovered that cyanide, along with carbon monoxide (CO), were binding with iron to form stable compounds in meteorites. These extraterrestrial iron cyano-carbonyl complexes resemble the organometallic active site of hydrogenases, which are enzymes that provide energy to bacteria and archaea by breaking down hydrogen gas (H2), and may have been precursors to hydrogenase active sites on early Earth. The Boise State University press release can be found here. The NASA press release can be found here.
Notable Media Coverage:
Cyanide-Laced Meteorites May Have Seeded Earth's First Life, LiveScience and picked up by Fox News and Yahoo! News.
Deadly Cyanide Might Help Us Better Understand Early Life, Space.com
NASA: Cyanide In Meteors Hold Answer To Origin Of Life On Earth, International Business Times
Meteorites Carrying Cyanide Could Have Given Ancient Life on Earth a Boost, Discover
A Neolithic jar. Photo credit: Georgian National Museum/Mindia Jalabadze
Mike and Karen are co-authors on a new paper in PNAS reporting the earliest evidence of winemaking in Georgia. They performed the crucial chemical analysis that led to the finding that ancient potsherds over 8,000 years old contained the chemical signatures of grape wine.
Notable media coverage:
CNN, BBC News, Reuters, National Geographic, TIME, New York Times, US News & World Report, NPR, Washington Post, Newsweek, Daily Mail, The Guardian, International Business Times, Wine Spectator, and many others.
This research is recognized by Guinness World Records as the Oldest Wine.
Mike was featured in the new Boise State University 2017 commercial. The video made its debut on Saturday, September 2, 2017 on ESPN for the Troy vs. Boise State football game.
Artist concept credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/ Chris Smith
Our research on nucleobases and nucleobase analogs in carbonaceous meteorites received national and international media coverage (over 300 stories), which included articles appearing on CNN (front page), TIME, The Washington Post, Popular Science, Space.com, FoxNews.com, MSNBC.com, Astronomy, Chemical and Engineering News, The New York Times, US News & World Report, and International Business Times. Mike's YouTube video discussing this research received over 97,000 views in less than 10 days (159,000+ views total), and was one of the most popular planetary science videos ever at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He was also featured on the Discovery Science Channel show “Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman” (Season 3, Episode 1), which was the 2nd highest rated hour in that time slot in the history of the Science Channel. Our research was ranked #2 on TIME’s top 10 space moments of all of 2011 (The launch of the multibillion dollar Mars Science Laboratory was ranked higher).
Notable media coverage:
NASA press release: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/dna-meteorites.html
YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g7AKVZ3HC4
TIME: Top 10 space moments of 2011: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2101344_2101210_2101220,00.html
TIME (DNA in Space? Biological Building Blocks Found in Meteorites): http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2087758,00.html
Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT7byONmkR0
CNN Broadcast (NASA looks to 2012 and beyond): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gUXBEr2jbw
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Mike Callahan
Mike's research developing advanced analytical methods for the examination of microgram-sized samples of carbonaceous meteorites also resulted in a NASA Goddard web feature and media coverage.
Notable media coverage:
NASA Goddard web feature: http://www.nasa.gov/content/new-technique-could-be-used-to-search-space-dust-for-lifes-ingredients/index.html
Cover Story and Interview with The Column: http://images2.advanstar.com/PixelMags/lctc/digitaledition/march20-2014-uk.html#2
Our research identifying Vitamin B3 in eight carbonaceous meteorites resulted in a NASA Goddard web feature. In a follow-up study, we found that Vitamin B3 could be synthesized on interstellar icy dust grain analogs, which also resulted in a NASA Goddard web feature and media coverage.
Notable media coverage:
NASA Goddard web feature 2014: http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/vitamin-b3-might-have-been-made-in-space-delivered-to-earth-by-meteorites/#.V4Z9zlcfWHp
NASA Goddard web feature 2015: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-researchers-find-frozen-recipe-for-extraterrestrial-vitamin
Photo credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Mike Callahan
Photo credit: Michel Py
Our research collaboration with Dr. Patrick McGovern (University of Pennsylvania Museum) involving the earliest biomolecular archaeological evidence for grape wine and viniculture from France also resulted in significant media coverage including TIME, BBC News, Discover Magazine, NPR, NBCNews, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian, Science News, Nature, Scientific American, New Scientist, and LiveScience. Mike was interviewed by science reporters for TIME, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and WHYY Newsworks.
Notable media coverage:
TIME article: http://science.time.com/2013/06/06/enjoy-old-french-wine-hows-2500-years-for-you/
Miscellaneous Media
Naturejobs.com article: http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/science/articles/10.1038/nj7394-405a
US News & World Report “Mysteries of Space” special issue: http://www.usnews.com/products/features/science-products-mysteries-of-space
The Planetary Society - Planetary Radio: http://www.planetary.org/multimedia/planetary-radio/show/2011/435.html