Outreach Idea: Column Chromatography
Here at the Summons Lab, we’re always working to enhance our science outreach efforts, and sometimes, that involves seeking inspiration online from peers in the organic geochemistry community. Outreach isn’t a one-person job — it’s a community effort!
Gravity Assist: Could We Find Billion-Year-Old Cholesterol? With Lindsay Hays (Summons Lab Alum!)
When we search for life beyond Earth, we have to figure out what we could measure that would tell us that life was, or is, there. And the starting place for that search must be Earth itself, the only place where we know for sure that life has lived. Every rock tells a story, and […]
Early life at MIT and on Earth
Undergraduate Juliana Drozd looks for the synthesis of a “sunscreen” pigment in microbes and experiences the struggles of a budding scientist. by Fernanda Ferreira | MIT Science Writing “This is my first time doing this without supervision,” Juliana Drozd said as she squirted ethanol on the lab bench and wiped it clean. “We’ll be fine,” […]
Timing the Speed of Life
Somewhere between 2.3 and 2.5 billion years ago, the Earth experienced a monumental atmospheric shift, setting the stage for complex life to emerge. EAPS researchers are looking for markers in the rock record providing clues as to how and why—and exactly when. By Fatima Husain The accumulation of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere marks the […]
Ainara Sistiaga interviewed for #STEMStories
Excerpt: “I always liked history and human evolution, the mysteries of our history were my passion as a kid, but also liked a lot nature and Earth history. In college I decided to study history, with a major in Prehistory. From my freshman year I joined a archaeological excavation on Neanderthals. There I discovered you […]
Ring by Ring
A collaboration of current and former EAPS researchers reveals the genes that enable GDGTs to cyclize by Fatima Husain Nestled within sediments that accumulate in marine environments, a certain class of molecule-sized fossils sneakily record surface water temperature changes over time. For almost two decades, scientists have used these molecules called glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraether […]
Continuing a Legacy of Antarctic Exploration
by Fatima Husain When Robert F. Scott’s Discovery expedition began their exploration of the Antarctic continent in 1901, they set out to achieve two goals: to geographically and scientifically characterize the regions touched by the Ross Sea. As the group of naval officers and scientists set foot upon the Ross Ice Shelf, they mapped their travels and […]
MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography
Are you applying to graduate programs related to oceanography this fall? If so, consider the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography! The deadline to apply is December 15th, 2019. This year, the Joint Program has a volunteer mentorship program organized by current students, called JP ASK, to provide advice on the application process.
Summons Lab at EATS!
On Friday, November 1st, Angel Mojarro and Roger Summons shared research summaries of their work to the MIT EAPS community as part of the EAPS Active Talk Series. Angel spoke about soft tissue preservation in fossil fish, while Roger spoke about soft tissue preservation and pigments in an ankylosaur fossil, as well as gut microbiome […]
Welcoming Visiting Student Jaz Millar
For the month of October, Cardiff University research student Jaz Millar will work in the Summons Lab to study the lipid profiles of microbial communities grown under Snowball Earth-like conditions. In her research, Millar studies how life survived and maintained diversity during the Cryogenian period 720-635 million years ago. She investigates the potential of cryoconite […]
