{
  "url": "https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2024/fahrplan/talk/F7MSNF/",
  "id": 557,
  "guid": "66187911-4b3e-5b23-8cd3-2f7cd0fdec83",
  "date": "2024-12-30T13:50:00+01:00",
  "start": "13:50",
  "logo": "https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2024/fahrplan/media/38c3/submissions/F7MSNF/curiosity_kDEmbPX.jpg",
  "duration": "00:40",
  "room": "Saal GLITCH",
  "slug": "38c3-557-microbes-vs-mars-a-hacker-s-guide-to-finding-alien-life",
  "title": "Microbes vs. Mars: A Hacker's Guide to Finding Alien Life",
  "subtitle": "",
  "track": "Science",
  "type": "Talk",
  "language": "en",
  "abstract": "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.\r\nBut how do you look for something that no one has ever seen? And would we recognize it if we find it?\r\nJoin me on a journey through Mars\u2019 ancient past and Earth\u2019s 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 \u2018cities\u2019 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 \u201cbiological fingerprints\u201d that might one day help us to find Martian life.\r\nThis 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.",
  "description": "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.",
  "recording_license": "",
  "do_not_record": false,
  "persons": [
    {
      "guid": "6547464f-ebca-51c4-9733-120d8c917ee2",
      "id": 587,
      "code": "CWESVP",
      "public_name": "Anouk Ehreiser",
      "avatar": "https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2024/fahrplan/media/avatars/Field_pic_VquR0Wi.jpeg",
      "biography": "I am a PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, where I study Mars-like environments on Earth and the resilient microbes that call them home. I hold a Master\u2019s in Physics from the University of Heidelberg and have conducted research in five countries, presented at conferences in six, and even spent some time working with planetary exploration rovers at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). As a lifelong Star Trek fan, I like to imagine myself as a science officer on an away mission during every field trip. I am hopeful that we will find alien life within this century, and I am working hard to help make it happen.",
      "answers": []
    }
  ],
  "links": [],
  "attachments": []
}