Microbes vs. Mars: A Hacker's Guide to Finding Alien Life (38c3)

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Mars is famously the only planet (we know of) that is entirely inhabited by robots. And these robots are working hard on looking for something that would be one of the most significant discoveries in the history of science: Alien life. But how do you look for something that no one has ever seen? And would we recognize it if we find it? Join me on a journey through Mars’ ancient past and Earth’s most extreme environments, where scientists hunt for strange microbes that defy all our expectations: Organisms thriving in salt lakes, breathing metal, and building bizarre microbial ‘cities’ out of rock. Are they the blueprint of what alien life might look like? I will introduce you to the cutting-edge technology we use to analyse and understand them, and how we detect their “biological fingerprints” that might one day help us to find Martian life. This talk will not only give you a deep look behind the scenes of the search for life on Mars, but also a new appreciation for the strange and wonderful life on our own planet. I am a PhD student in astrobiology and planetary science at the University of Hong Kong and want to introduce you to the exciting research that is happening in the search for life on Mars. We will talk about what Earth and Mars looked like 3 billion years ago, you will get to know some truly weird microbes, learn about the instruments on Mars rovers and the exciting upcoming Mars sample return missions. I will also share highlights from my own research and fieldwork in Mars-like environments: From growing extremophiles in the lab to testing planetary rovers on Mount Etna, and research adventures in the remote deserts of the Atacama and western China. Licensed to the public under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 about this event: https://events.ccc.de/congress/2024/hub/event/microbes-vs-mars-a-hacker-s-guide-to-finding-alien-life/