Blue Marble Space Institute of Science

Scientist Engagement LPI’s Science Engagement team provides resources and professional development for scientists, early career scientists, and students.

October 3, 2025 | 3pm Eastern Time
www.lpi.usra.edu/education/sc...

Speakers include:
Dr. Edgard Rivera-Valentín – Planetary radar scientist
Dr. Rhiannon Mayne – Chair of Meteoritics & Planetary Science, TCU
Dr. Justin Filiberto – Deputy Chief, NASA ARES Division

Join LPI for a free professional development webinar exploring career pathways in planetary science and astrobiology.

Ask an Astrobiologist It's been a decade of astrobiology in Aotearoa. NASA & BMSIS Dr Sanjoy Som, Dr Graham Lau, and Sarah Marcotte JPL are here to answer your space questions.

Join BMSIS scientists, Drs. Sanjoy Som and Graham Lau, as well as NASA JPL's, Sarah Marcotte, on Tuesday evening in Wellington for a conversation about the quest to understand the nature of life, Mars exploration, and more.

events.humanitix.com/ask-an-astro...

Japan unveils world’s first hydrogen-powered driverless tractor Kubota unveils the world’s first autonomous hydrogen fuel cell tractor combining AI and zero emissions to tackle farming’s labor crisis.

Kubota has introduced the world’s first hydrogen-powered, self-driving tractor, showcased this week at World Expo 2025 in Osaka.

interestingengineering.com/innovation/j...

Scientists find proof that an asteroid hit the North Sea over 43 million years ago A decades-long scientific debate over the origins of the Silverpit Crater in the southern North Sea has been resolved.

Some researchers have confirmed that the Silverpit Crater in the North Sea, long debated since its discovery in 2002, was formed by an asteroid impact about 43–46 million years ago.

www.hw.ac.uk/news/2025/sc...

We're so excited for the 43 new alumni of the BMSIS Young Scientist Program, now joining hundreds of others who have completed our program over the last 11 years!

In the wild, chimps likely ingest the equivalent of several alcoholic drinks every day - Berkeley News A survey of the alcohol content of fruits eaten regularly by African chimps shows that their diet could deliver 14 grams of ethanol daily. Given their body size, that's nearly two cocktails' worth.

Who wouldn't enjoy a couple of cocktails each day if you're out hanging in the trees?

news.berkeley.edu/2025/09/17/i...

Aerial view of dense green mangrove trees growing along bright turquoise-blue water. Overlaid text reads: “How to effectively restore mangroves.” The UN Environment Programme logo is in the top right corner.

Interest in large-scale mangrove restoration is growing, but success depends on aligning all stakeholders—NGOs, govts, scientists, & communities—around science-based approaches.

🌿 #GenerationRestoration Guidelines by @globalmangroves.bsky.social: www.decadeonrestoration.org/publications...

New type of ‘sieve’ detects the smallest pieces of plastic in the environment more easily than ever before Nanoplastics can cross the blood-brain barrier – and being able to better detect them is the first step in addressing their potential impact.

An optical sieve for measuring the distribution of microplastics may be a next step in monitoring plastic pollution in waters around the planet.

theconversation.com/new-type-of-...

Very cool new scicomm video created by our @bluemarblespace.bsky.social YSP, Erin Faye Dizon!

IAUS 404: Advancing the Search for Technosignatures @bluemarblespace.bsky.social #astrobiology #IAU 🧪🔭🧬⚛️
iaus404.bmsis.org?mc_cid=fe7b2...

Research shows that among 94 different primate species (including both extant and extinct forms), those with larger thumbs also have/had larger brains. This shows that developing dexterity and gripping may also go hand-in-hand with brain developments for primates!

www.reading.ac.uk/news/2025/Re...

Hot blob beneath Appalachians formed when Greenland split from North America — and it's heading to New York A hot blob currently beneath the Appalachians may have peeled off from Greenland around 80 million years ago and moved to where it is today at a rate of 12 miles per million years, scientists have fou...

A “hot blob” of rock under the Appalachian Mountains wasn’t left over from when North America split from Africa 180 million years ago, as once thought. New research shows it formed about 80 million years ago when Greenland broke away from North America.

www.livescience.com/planet-earth...

White Dwarf stars are dead, but they still feed... on planets Observations show a lot of these stars are actually zombies. Also: moving an Earth-threatening asteroid just got a bit harder

Zombie stars feed off their children. And it happens a *lot*.

[This issue is for paid subscriptions only - sign up to get lots of articles by me on cool astronomy and other topics!]

badastronomy.beehiiv.com/p/white-dwar...

YouTube video by NASA Astrobiology Antarctica, Meteorites, Asteroids, & the Building Blocks of Life with Dr. Sara Russell! (NASA LIVE)

An all new episode of #AskAstrobio goes live today at 10:00 Pacific Time!

Join in to learn more from meteoriticist Dr. Sara Russell about meteorites, asteroids, sample return with OSIRIS-REx, the upcoming MMX mission, and more!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYc2...

The @bluemarblespace.bsky.social Young Scientist Program is one of the best opportunities on the planet for early career scholars to participate in research and training in #scicomm and ethics. Check out our project to make videos with Sciworthy!

Applications are now open!

bmsis.org/ysp/projects/

Software engineer or bioinformatician?

3 positions via Bastion Technologies, Rothe Enterprises, @bluemarblespace.bsky.social working for NASA Open Science Data Repository/GeneLab

🔗 bastiontechnologies.applicantpro.com/jobs/3589766
🔗 rothe-enterprises.com/careers/
🔗 easyapply.co/m/apply/0347...

NASA GeneLab is looking for a Bioinformatics Program Developer to join the Data Processing team. In this role, you'll work with cutting-edge -omics data from space biology experiments, develop workflows, and analyze critical data that supports human space exploration.

bluemarblespace.easyapply.co

Hello, BlueSky!

We're the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (BMSIS), a global collective of scientists exploring life's mysteries and our place in the cosmos. From astrobiology to climate science, we're on a mission to understand our universe and share that knowledge with you.