From the Laboratory to the Classroom: Characterization of Microorganisms Residing on Mars-Based Spacecraft

Planetary Protection is a discipline that aims to prevent forward biological contamination of other celestial bodies from Earth sources that might interfere with the search and detection of extraterrestrial life on interplanetary missions, such as Mars lander missions. Before any Mars mission with planetary protection bioburden requirements can be launched, the Planetary Protection team at JPL collects samples from the spacecraft and performs the NASA Standard Assay to detect any aerobic, mesophilic microorganisms. My primary objective for the summer was to take 60 isolates from the MER rovers and create long-term glycerol stocks, one working stock, and perform DNA extraction and identification of those 60 isolates. I was also tasked with lyophilizing 30 Viking isolates for long-term storage and creating 3 classroom lessons for MERCCURI project, which aims to send microbial isolates to the International Space Station as a public outreach program. The MER isolates have been successfully sequenced with predominant isolates comprised of the Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Brevibacillus, and Sporosarcina genera. The identification and archiving of these isolates will be a crucial piece of future Mars and Europa life detection and sample return missions. Not only is it important to prepare isolates for long-term preservation for the sake of future missions but preserving these isolates has also enabled outreach opportunities

Play: paradox and paradigms

Boston University. University Professors Program Senior theses

Philo of Alexandria and the Vocabulary of Belief

Philo of Alexandria is a thinker who defies taxonomy. The taxonomists in religious studies class him as a “Jewish philosopher,” implying that both his Judaism and his philosophy are paramount to his identity, yet his “philosophy” seems almost non-rational, and his Judaism non-traditional at best. I suggest that the best way to understand Philo’s writings and motivations is to loosen the modern attempt at classification and try to apprehend him on his own terms

L’otan et George W. Bush : Perspectives du Congrès américain sur la transformation de l’alliance

La plupart des recherches actuelles sur l’Organisation du traité de l’Atlantique nord (otan) mettent en évidence que cette alliance traverse de graves difficultés, est dans l’ensemble inappropriée, ou bien est vouée à l’effondrement. Presque toutes portent sur les différends à propos de l’Irak des deux côtés de l’Atlantique, sur les grandes différences de capacité militaire entre les États-Unis et ses alliés, ou sur les effets (négativement perçus) d’un élargissement de l’alliance. Dans la littérature récente, aucune recherche n’examine le rôle du Congrès américain sur l’évolution de l’organisation. Cet article fait l’examen du regard que porte le Congrès sur l’otan à propos des quatre questions de l’élargissement de l’alliance, du rôle de l’otan en Afghanistan, de l’assistance qu’elle apporte aux pays de l’Union africaine au Soudan, et de son rôle en Irak après l’opération Liberté de l’Irak. Il conclut que le Congrès s’est peu soucié de voir à la transformation de l’otan et s’est désintéressé de manière surprenante de sa mission en Afghanistan. Bien qu’il y ait eu des exemples d’entrepreneurship de la part du Congrès, celui-ci s’est montré principalement loyal envers le président des États-Unis.Much of the current research on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (nato) points to an alliance that is deeply troubled, largely irrelevant, or is bound to collapse. Nearly all of this research focuses on the transatlantic differences over Iraq, the wide differences in military capabilities between the United States and its allies, or the perceived negative impact of alliance expansion. Within recent literature, no research examines Congress’s role in shaping the alliance’s evolution. This paper examines Congress’s views toward nato across four issue areas; alliance expansion, nato’s role in Afghanistan, nato’s assistance to the African Union in Sudan, and nato’s role in Iraq after Operation Iraqi Freedom. This paper finds that Congress devoted little attention to shaping nato’s transformation, and was surprisingly disengaged on nato’s mission in Afghanistan. While examples of congressional entrepreneurship were evident, Congress was mostly deferential to the president

One year and one war later: still no vote from Congress onmilitary action

It has now been more than a year since the US began military action against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Since the war began, President Obama has repeatedly requested that Congress give the authority for the action, but Congress has made little progress in that direction. Ryan C. Hendrickson places most of the blame for Congressional inaction on the Speaker of the House, John Boehner. He argues that Boehner’s lack of desire for a vote is expanding the president’s war powers – powers that, constitutionally, Congress should be exercising much more oversight of

Crossing the Rubicon

Ryan C. Hendrickson examines the chain of events leading to Operation Deliberate Force, NATO’s first air campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and their significance ten years on

History : Sweden\u27s partnership with NATO

Ryan Hendrickson looks at how Sweden has managed to get the best from both neutrality and NATO