While most people indicate interest in Mars in terms of the Red planet and its weather, there is also interest in something else - life.
Astrobiology is the study of life in the cosmos.
An event, Perspectives in Astrobiology, to be held Sept. 29-Oct. 10 on the island of Crete, is being sponsored by NASA and NASA's Advanced Studies Institute. The preliminary list of speakers includes astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle, Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Baruch Blumberg who heads NASA's Astrobiology Institute, and David McKay, who pioneered the study of microfossils on Mars. Expected attendees will be biologists, geologists, geochemists and astronomers from around the world. The institute will differ from a typical conference in that the attendees will live in the same hotel and eat all meals together, as well as attend the presentations. Advanced students will have the opportunity to present scientific papers on their own research.