Astrobiological problems for physicists and biologists

Program:

(Videos can also be downloaded.)

*Thursday*  (12 August 2004)

13.30-14.00: Registration

14.00-16.00: Life and space   (chairperson: Axel Brandenburg)

14.00-14.30: Harry Lehto: Highlights from the Iceland meeting [Video] 14.45-15.15: Gerda Horneck: Astrobiology studies on microorganisms in outer space [Video] 15.30-16.30: General discussion

16.00-16.30: Coffee

16.30-18.30: Early life  (chairperson: Gerda Horneck)

16.30-16.50: Jouko Seppänen: Autogenesis, Autocatalysis and Autosemiosis - The Universal First Principles of Self, Life and Mind [Video] 17.00-17.30: Ib Lundgaard Rasmussen: Is Earth the optimum starting point for life? [Video] 17.30-18.30: General discussion

20:00 Conference dinner, sauna, meteor watch (Perseid maximum after 10pm)

*Friday*  (13 August 2004)

9.00-10.30: Early life and RNA world  (chairperson: Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson)

9.00-9.20: Kirsi Lehto: Viruses as models of early RNA-replicons [Video] 9.30-9.50: Alexey Karetnikov: Translational mechanisms of modern RNA viruses as molecular fossils of RNA World [Video] 10.00-10.30: General discussion

10.30-11.00: Coffee

11.00-12.30: Early life and RNA world (cont'd)  (chairperson: Kirsi Lehto)

11.00-11.30: Harri Lönnberg: The effect of secondary structure on the hydrolytic stability of RNA phosphodiester bonds (I) [Video] 11.45-12.15: Jouko Peltonen: about self-organizing molecular films which catalyze chemical reactions [Video]

12.30: lunch

14.00-15.00: Adapatation of life  (chairperson: Jouko Peltonen)

14.00-14.20: Pirkko Mäenpää: Cyanobacteria, model organisms in photosynthesis research under varying environmental conditions [Video] 14.30-15.00: General discussion

15.00-16.00: Planetary orbits   (chairperson: Chris Flynn)

15.00-15.20: Mauri Valtonen: Stability of planets in binary star systems [Video] 15.30-15.50: Harry Lehto: Planetary migration and the 3:1 resonance in of 55 Cancri [Video] 16.00-16.20: Lauri Pesonen: Meteorite impacts, catastrophic events and astrobiology [Video]

16.30-17.00: Coffee

17.30-19.00: Astrogeology, astrochemistry and exoplanets  (chairperson: Ib Lundgaard Rasmussen)

17.30-17.50: Johan Silen: CIDA on NASA Stardust Mission [Video] 18.00-18.20: Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson: Icelandic analogs to Martian hillside gullies [Video] 18.30-18.50: Anja C. Andersen: Carbonaceous chondrites [Video]

evening: visit to the observatory, sauna for the rest of the evening!

*Saturday*  (14 August 2004)

9.00-10.30: Homochirality  (chairperson: Martin Nilsson)

9.00-9.20: Souriraja Ramadurai: The role of the weak interaction in homochirality [Video] 9.30-9.50: Axel Brandenburg: Homochiral growth through enantiomeric cross-inhibition 10.00-10.20: Tuomas Multamäki: How long can left and right handed life forms coexist? [Video]

10.30-11.00: Coffee

11.00-12.30: Extremophiles and the Public  (chairperson: Leena Tähtinen) [Video]

11.00-11.20: Anna Kaksonen: Enrichment and isolation of novel thermophilic sulfate-reducing bacteria from a geothermally active underground mine in Japan [Video] 11.30-12.30: Discussion about public outreach and teaching Astrobiology

12.30: lunch

14.00-late

Excursion to Kuuslahti on rowing boats (4 km from Tuorla). For dinner we will be roasting sausages outside the sauna. On the way back we may stop by at Kuusiston linna.

*Sunday*  (15 August 2004)

10.00-12.30: General discussion

12.30: lunch

14.00: Departure