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No Acadia Biology Seminar this week, but see below about next Thursday. Harold, Please forward this to the BNS list with apologies for extra postings. --------------- From: Suman Gupta [mailto:045677g@acadiau.ca] Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 11:08 AM To: wanda.langley@acadiau.ca Cc: 040465o@acadiau.ca Subject: Biology Seminar Series ...There is no seminar this week. However, as promised, next week (Thursday, Oct 26th) we will be returning to our regularly scheduled programming. We are delighted to bring to you the following: 11:30 a.m., Oct. 26/06, Thursday, in Patterson Hall (Biology Bldg.) -- ALL ARE WELCOME! Coffee and snacks will be provided. Dr. Randy Olson, Nova Scotia Agricultural College "Confirmed Exobiology on Mars: Scientific, Ethical, and Theological Questions" Although the search for extraterrestrial life in the latter part of the twentieth century has focused on programs designed to recognize extraterrestrial intelligence by signals coming from across the galaxy, recent efforts to explore the geology and climate of planets within our own solar system have provided renewed interest in the search for microorganisms as the most plausible forms of extraterrestrial life. The planet Mars has been and remains the object of much scientific study in this regard. Both the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) maintain Mars exploration programs consisting of unmanned spacecraft missions. There is compelling evidence for substantial concentrations of water ice in the polar regions of Mars suggesting the possibility of both subsurface, liquid water and protection against UV radiation. In addition, certain Martian environments appear to approximate ³extreme² environments on Earth that support microbial life. As the search for extraterrestrial microbial life intensifies and it discovery becomes more feasible, there have been calls from both in and outside the scientific community for a public debate concerning the ethical and theological impact on society in advance of such a discovery. Dr. Randy Olson, Professor of Biology, recently stepped down as Head of the Dept. of Environmental Sciences at the NSAC after nine years and is now on sabbatical leave. He is currently engaged in collaborative research projects concerning the anatomy of plant disease infection pathways. He is also collaborating with Orthodox priest and scholar, the Rev. Dr. V. Tobin on the initiation of a research program focusing on various environmental issues framed within an Eastern Orthodox Christian context. In addition, Dr. Olson has had some formal academic training in Eastern Orthodox Theology and is an ordained Subdeacon in the Canadian Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in America. Seminars are held weekly, on Thursdays from 11:30 to 12:30 in Pat 308. Refreshments are available, and all are encouraged to attend. Suman Gupta MSc Candidate Biology Department, Acadia University Wolfville, Nova Scotia, CANADA, B4P 2R6 902.585.1796 (lab) suman.gupta@acadiau.ca
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