LATROBE, PA – Dr. Floyd Nichols, C’19, will explore the question of whether life could have arisen on Mars around the same time it did on Earth and discuss his research during a lecture at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 at Saint Vincent College.
The event will be held at the Dr. Frank J. Luparello Lecture Hall in the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion. Admission is free.
Nichols earned a bachelor’s degree in biology at Saint Vincent College and a doctorate in earth and planetary sciences at Northwestern University. He is doing postdoctoral research at the Global Change Center in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech University.
Evidence suggests there was saltwater on Mars before the planet lost its atmosphere around the time as the onset of life on Earth. “This begs the question,” Nichols said. “Could life have arisen on Mars at the same time [as it did on Earth]?”
Nichols has conducted research in British Columbia, the Moajve Desert in California and the Atacama Desert in Chile. “These are promising locations to probe for the potential for life beyond Earth due to many of their chemistries resembling ancient Martian brines and icy moons,” Nichols said.
Dr. Floyd Nichols
