Reconstructing Evolution: A Molecular Time Machine

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations
February 23, 2016 Belmont Media Center, Belmont MA

Betul Kacar, Ph.D., Research Fellow and Astrobiologist, Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University. Dr. Kacar is also Global Science Coordinator of ELSI Origins of Life Network, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and Co-Founder of SAGANet.org, the online astrobiology grassroots network, an initiative of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science.

Dr. Kacar discusses the young field of paleogenomics, and how researchers are able to unravel the genetic evolution of modern organisms. The value of this work is important not only for establishing an accurate biography of Earth's organisms; paleogenomics is of interest in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.

article about this research Genetic Time Travel