ICAR - What life wants: Exploring the Natural Selection of Elements

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented U.S. and non-U.S. scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific research opportunity focuses on the MUSE (Metal Utilization and Selection across Eons) team's exploration of the natural selection of chemical elements during the coevolution of life and environment on early Earth, with emphasis on the history of metal use in the biological nitrogen cycle. The research program addresses limitations in understanding by studying the evolution of metal use in nitrogen fixation over Earth's history. The research approach integrates traditionally disparate fields of geochemistry, geobiology, paleogenetics, experimental evolution, and artificial biology toward a common goal of understanding the evolution of metal requirements in biological nitrogen fixation. These investigations connect the planetary and molecular scales, as well as independent geochemical and molecular records of ancient life.