Science (and Science Fiction) at the Vatican

Here in the US the most visible and vociferous members of the religious establishment (i.e., the fundamentalists) are doing their damnedest to suppress science and would like to return our understanding of the physical world back to that of Europe in 1600. That's not the case with the Vatican (and here I'll bracket certain feminist differences I have with the Roman Catholic establishment). The AP's Vatican looks to heavens for signs of alien life, an article by Ariel David, reports on a conference at the Vatican devoted to astrobiology:

The questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.

Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology — the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos.

Funes said the possibility of alien life raises "many philosophical and theological implications" but added that the gathering was mainly focused on the scientific perspective and how different disciplines can be used to explore the issue.

Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, said it was appropriate that the Vatican would host such a meeting.

"Both science and religion posit life as a special outcome of a vast and mostly inhospitable universe," he told a news conference Tuesday. "There is a rich middle ground for dialogue between the practitioners of astrobiology and those who seek to understand the meaning of our existence in a biological universe."

Thirty scientists, including non-Catholics, from the U.S., France, Britain, Switzerland, Italy and Chile attended the conference, called to explore among other issues "whether sentient life forms exist on other worlds."

David notes:

The Church of Rome's views have shifted radically through the centuries since Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1600 for speculating, among other ideas, that other worlds could be inhabited.

Scientists have discovered hundreds of planets outside our solar system — including 32 new ones announced recently by the European Space Agency. Impey said the discovery of alien life may be only a few years away.

"If biology is not unique to the Earth, or life elsewhere differs bio-chemically from our version, or we ever make contact with an intelligent species in the vastness of space, the implications for our self-image will be profound," he said.

This is not the first time the Vatican has explored the issue of extraterrestrials: In 2005, its observatory brought together top researchers in the field for similar discussions.

Darwin's theory of evolution is clearly at the heart of all astrobiology. As I was reading this, I thought, given that not everyone in the Catholic Church is on the same page vis-a-vis Creationism, the Vatican's interest in astrobiology must make it somewhat controversial. And just so, for here's David:

Today top clergy, including Funes, openly endorse scientific ideas like the Big Bang theory as a reasonable explanation for the creation of the universe. The theory says the universe began billions of years ago in the explosion of a single, super-dense point that contained all matter.

Earlier this year, the Vatican also sponsored a conference on evolution to mark the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species."

The event snubbed proponents of alternative theories, like creationism and intelligent design, which see a higher being rather than the undirected process of natural selection behind the evolution of species.

Still, there are divisions on the issues within the Catholic Church and within other religions, with some favoring creationism or intelligent design that could make it difficult to accept the concept of alien life.

Working with scientists to explore fundamental questions that are of interest to religion is in line with the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI, who has made strengthening the relationship between faith and reason a key aspect of his papacy.

Recent popes have been working to overcome the accusation that the church was hostile to science — a reputation grounded in the Galileo affair.

In 1992, Pope John Paul II declared the ruling against the astronomer was an error resulting from "tragic mutual incomprehension."

The Vatican Museums opened an exhibit last month marking the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first celestial observations.

Tommaso Maccacaro, president of Italy's national institute of astrophysics, said at the exhibit's Oct. 13 opening that astronomy has had a major impact on the way we perceive ourselves.

"It was astronomical observations that let us understand that Earth (and man) don't have a privileged position or role in the universe," he said. "I ask myself what tools will we use in the next 400 years, and I ask what revolutions of understanding they'll bring about, like resolving the mystery of our apparent cosmic solitude."

The Vatican Observatory has also been at the forefront of efforts to bridge the gap between religion and science. Its scientist-clerics have generated top-notch research and its meteorite collection is considered one of the world's best.

Hmm. My inner historian is agog. Strengthening the relationship between faith and reason-- that sounds really familiar. Go Peter Abelard!

Oh for a tricorder!

Last night I attended the fourth in the UW's public series of lectures in Astrobiology. Titled "Searching for Life," the lecture was delivered by Chris McKay a scientist from the NASA Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley who's worked on several planetary exploration missions, including the Mars Science Laboratory due to launch in two years. The lecture was held on the UW campus in 120 Kane Hall (which, for Marq'ssan Cycle readers, was used as a temporary jail in Alanya to Alanya), and there was a good turnout, mostly adults, of course, but at least some kids. (During the Q&A, a couple of geeky kids got to ask questions.) My ears pricked when Woody Sullivan, introducing McKay, mentioned that he is interested in ethical issues of planetary exploration.

The lecture was power-point driven, which made note-taking easy, of course-- though I always wonder, as I did last night, whether that format doesn't also have the tendency to make lectures a bit simpler than they would otherwise have been. Still, done well, simplicity can be elegant rather than reductionist, which in my opinion was the case here. In fact, the simplicity began with Sullivan's intro, which characterized astrobiology as seeking transdiciplinary answers to three questions-- What is Life? Where does Life come from? And Is there Life beyond Earth? (Needless to say, when I asked Sullivan about astrobiology when I met him at the Whitely Center a couple of years ago, his characterization was considerably more elaborate.)

This lecture focused chiefly on the search for "Life 2.0," looking at each of several sites in the solar system and evaluating their promise for delivering Life 2.0 or evidence that it once existed in those sites. Will anyone be surprised to hear there were quite a lot of references to sf, mostly Star Trek, most notably a picture of Spock and a quotation: "Jim, it's life, but not as we know it," and, later in the lecture, in answer to the question "How do we recognize alien life?" the reply "Use a tricorder" accompanied by an image of a Star Trek tricorder. (McKay then regretted that not only does science not know how the tricorder works, science fiction doesn't know, either.) The sites scored for the possibility of Life 2.0 were Mars (Score: 48 out of 100); Europa (score: 45 out of 100); Titan (score: 68 out of 100); Enceladus, that so cool moon of Saturn that sends jets of H2O out of its South Pole with a power equivalent to Old Faithful (score: 68 out of 100); and last--and as McKay would have it, unworthy of consideration and the least of all the sites considered, Venus (score: 39). It was also suggested it was possible that Life 2.0 (i.e., life that can't be placed on the tree of Life 1.0) could be found in extreme places on Earth (although as yet, it hasn't). McKay was most enthusiastic about Enceladus (see the image to the left), but noted ruefully that its distance from Earth makes it a tough sell to get funding for exploring it (though clearly he's working on it).

For me, the most interesting portion of the lecture was the last section, on the ethics of planetary exploration. McKay said that NASA's missions to Mars all follow the rule of being "biologically reversible" so that if life is discovered any organic material that has been transported there from Earth can be destroyed by exposure to ultraviolet radiation. (He likened this to be able to hit the "undo" button.) I felt a bit dubious when he said that it's not enough to find life, but we should 'help' it if we do ("whether it wants it or not"): but then he didn't make clear what he meant by "help"; he did, however, make reference to science fiction having educated him about this. (Again, the lack of specificity in which science fiction made me a bit uneasy.) He also mentioned "expanding life from Earth" (without giving enough elaboration to fit it into his ethics of planetary exploration). As for our possibly discovering alien microbes: he presented a sort of set theory of ethics in which he asserted that though Earth's microbes have a low moral status, if alien microbes are the sole representative of Life 2.0, they would have a high moral status. (He suggested a parallel with endangered species on Earth, and as we all know, many people in our world do not grant moral status of any sort to endangered species.) I'd like to believe that his ethical set theory would prevail, but when I think about the brutality and stupidity of moral systems in the US generally, I have little confidence that such a view would have much traction (since no doubt politicians would immediately assert their authority). Finally, McKay expressed consciousness of the ethical and environmental implications for how we do exploration on Mars or anywhere else. (Naturally I immediately thought of the Martian Chronicles...)

All in all, an enjoyable hour.

Astrobiology!

Yesterday I received a mailing advertising a fall lecture series sponsored by the University of Washington's Astrobiology program, commemorating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's telecscopic discoveries and the 150th anniverary of Darwin's theory of evolution. Have to say, this is really cool stuff. Any sf writer'd be a fool not to attend! Here's the description and schedule:

Life and the Universe

Our series celebrates Galileo and Darwin and their ideas and takes stock of how these ideas have led to the emerging interdisciplinary science of astrobiology, which asks fundamental questions about the phenomenon of life in a cosmic context. Research today into the origin and evolution of life and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life has been made possible by these giants of science.


Tuesday, October 6, 2009
George Coyne, S. J.
Astronomer, historian, Jesuit priest
Emeritus director of the Vatican Observatory

The New Cosmos of Galileo

Advances in high-contrast imaging have produced a new sample of spatially resolved debris disks with morphologies attributed to the dynamical effects of planets. I will briefly review several cases, including our recent non-detection of the planet candidate Beta Pictoris b using Keck adaptive optics at L-prime. Then I will focus on the case for a planetary system around the nearby A star Fomalhaut. Optical coronagraphic observations using the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard HST shows a vast dusty debris belt offset from the star and cleanly sculpted at its inside border. Follow-up HST images have further revealed a co-moving point source with apparent orbital motion 18 AU interior to the dust belt. I will discuss both the observational and theoretical evidence that the point source is a planet with < 3 Jupiter masses, making Fomalhaut b the lowest mass planet candidate detected via direct imaging. I will give alternate explanations and discuss future plans for the detailed mapping of Fomalhaut's planetary system.


Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Steve Benner
Biochemical expert on synthesizing life in the lab.

The Origin of Life, the Universe and the Scientific Method

Everyone thinks that "the scientific method" based on observation, hypothesis, and experiment offers a reliable path to truth about the natural world. But how do we apply such methods to the big questions, like:

"How did life originate?"
"Are we alone in the cosmos?"
"What is this 'life stuff' anyway?"

The talk will consider how scientists go after such big questions starting from our worm's eye view of the cosmos. We will see scientists discarding data when it leads in undesirable directions, changing definitions as convenient, and ignoring disproofs. Nevertheless we will end up seeing how progress is made to address some of the oldest questions that humankind has asked.


Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Keith Benson
Leading historian of biology, who studies the era when Darwin's seminal work was being debated.

Charles Darwin and Evolution Theory

Charles Darwin's epochal book, On the Origin of Species, was and is recognized as one of the most important scientific texts ever written. Darwin struggled for over 20 years to produce what has come to be considered the foundation stone for modern evolution theory. Yet, after the book's publication in 1859, its main argument for species transmutation, as it was then called, represented but one of a number of ideas of organic change over time. Indeed, Darwin's ideas ran into so many obstacles that he was forced to offer several corrections and explanatory revisions in later editions of the book. It was not until the early twentieth century that a viable 'Darwinian' version of evolution theory began to emerge and perhaps not until mid-century that Darwin's version of evolution theory, now reconceptualized both with natural history observations and genetic explanations, was g enerally accepted. In this talk, I will explain Darwin's original development of his ideas, detail the major obstacles he confronted from 1859 until his death in 1882, and sketch the general outline of the gradual formation of Darwinian evolution theory in the twentieth century.


Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Chris McKay
Top NASA astrobiologist who studies extreme life in Antarctica and the Atacama Desert of Chile, and searches for life on Mars.

Searching for Life

One of the main goals of astrobiology is the search for another type of life in our solar system. The planet Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa, and Saturn's moon Enceladus are the most likely targets for this search. Studies of the limits of life and life in extreme environment on Earth help us develop a search strategy for life on other worlds. Fossils are not enough, for we will want also to determine if life elsewhere is the product of a separate genesis from life on Earth. For this determination we need to access intact alien life, possibly frozen in the deep old permafrost of Mars or the icy surfaces of Europa and Enceladus.


Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Peter D. Ward
UW paleontologist and astrobiologist who studies the history of our planet's life, as well as our long-term future.

Earth Life: Its History and Future

Earth life is still the only known life. Studying its history and future gives us clues as to what an extraterrestrial life might be. While Earth life is incredibly variable in terms of species, ranging from tiny microbes to giant redwood trees, in fact the basic units of DNA and amino acids are so similar that the unity of life is perhaps even more striking than its diversity. In this talk I will speculate on how that happened: Was our life the first out of the evolutionary gate (and therefore quickly dominated the world), or was it the product of brutal competitive wars in which today's familiar life arose through competition rather than speed? I will also look forward in time, to see that the evolution of life will be followed by its devolution in an approximately symmetrical manner.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Jody Deming
UW oceanographer and astrobiologist who studies microbes from Arctic ice under icy-moon and Martian-like conditions.

Ice as an Evolutonary Playground, Here and Beyond

Most of the planetary (and moon) surfaces we can expect to explore and sample in this century are deeply frozen. Where life-supporting water exists, it is in the form of ice or as briny (or more exotic) fluids kept liquid to the extent that salts depress the freezing point of water. Exploring Earth's coldest saline ice formations enables us to understand these habitats not simply as extreme settings that preserve life until conditions become more favorable, but as evolutionary playgrounds where microscopic life forms can engage in surprising activities that promote their well-being and the adaptability of their offspring. What we are learning from Earth's ice, even as we are losing it to a warming climate, brings optimism to what we may find elsewhere in the solar system.


If you live in the Seattle area and would like to attend any (or all!) of these lectures, they're at 7:30 p.m. in 120 Kane Hall. Admission is free, but you need to reserve tickets (which you can do through the website I linked to above).