MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. (AP) -- Two years ago, NASA took a chance and launched a new field of research christened "astrobiology" with a bold Nobel laureate at the helm and about $10 million for research.
This week, at the first ever Astrobiology Science Conference, NASA organizers were surprised when 600 scientists -- three times as many as expected -- showed up brimming with research papers, new ideas and enthusiasm about the questions of origins and evolution of life in the universe.
"This is an irresistibly exciting field," said Baruch Blumberg, director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute who won the 1976 Nobel Prize for physiology and medicine. "It's like when Galileo first looked through a telescope and everything he saw was new."
Physicists, geologists, biologists, chemists and astronomers are using NASA's new research tools -- orbital probes, infrared telescopes, observing satellites and more -- to discover and solve new mysteries, possible signatures of life in space.
With a new planet discovered every few months, Blumberg said the field is burgeoning.
"The response from the scientific community to the questions we're asking in astrobiology has been pretty overwhelming," he said.
The questions are whoppers: How did life begin and evolve? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? What is the future for life on Earth and beyond?
The answers, said researchers at the conference, will come from focusing on their own narrow fields on Earth and in space.
Richard Greenberg of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona examined the habitability of Europa's crust and ocean. James Ferris of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute presented explanations about how mineral reactions on Earth help explain the origin of life. John Barross of the University of Washington spoke about life in deep-sea hydrothermal vents.
"The model we're using to find life on Mars is the same model we use to find life on Earth," said Blumberg. "Once we really know how life originated on Earth, we can learn more about life in the universe."
John McKnight, who heads Red Planet Research, a networking organization studying the humanities, social sciences and ethics of astrobiology, said the huge response to NASA's new program is "an enormously positive step forward" for the space agency's efforts to garner public interest and support for its work.
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