UMass Amherst professor receives NASA grant
New England Council member, University of Massachusetts Amherst recently became the recipient of a grant from NASA. Professor James Holden, a microbiologist, will receive $621,000 in funding over the next three years to study Pacific coast organisms that may help us learn more about life on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.
Europa is covered in ice, but many believe in the possibility of liquid water, and therefore life, existing on this moon. Research surrounding volcanoes on the moon’s sea floor may lead to this discovery, which is where Professor Holden and his study of thermophiles come in. Thermophiles display a completely different evolutionary path, which subverts what we commonly believe about the evolution of life on Earth. Thermophiles are microorganisms that live inside solid rock, without sunlight or oxygen, and survive off the emissions of volcanoes. By studying these occurrences on Earth, Holden and NASA hope to discover more about the possibility of life on Europa.
“If we know that life could take something like hydrogen, carbon dioxide and sulfur and make a living off of it, then — in terms of the laws of chemistry — that same sort of thing could be happening someplace else, even if it involves building blocks that are, say, completely different from what we’re used to,” said Holden about the possibility of life evolving in different ways and locations.
The New England Council congratulates UMass Amherst and James Holden on this exciting grant.
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