Dr. Penny Boston, New Mexico Tech
October 23, 2013
The search for life beyond our planet has gone in two directions: looking for traces of microbial life on planetary bodies and icy moons in our own Solar System, and looking for life (perhaps including intelligent life) far beyond our Solar System. Dr. Boston will discuss what types of life we might find, and consequences for our species and civilization should we be successful in our searches. Boston serves on the Planetary Protection Subcommittee of NASA which operates to ensure that missions to other planets do not pose a threat to any life that may live there and that any materials brought back to Earth pose no threat to us.
Dr. Boston is a returning AIA speaker who gave us an amazing talk on “Caves Around the World”. She is Director, Cave and Karst Studies Program and Professor in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Dept. of New Mexico Tech (NM Institute of Mining and Technology). She is the Associate Director of the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Professor Boston received her BA, MS, and PhD degrees from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
