Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations

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 appeared on SftPublic's Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations program February 23, 2016 to discuss Reconstructing Evolution: A Molecular Time Machine. Her work in this young field of paleogenomics has received considerable attention. In this program Dr. Kacar described how she and other researchers are able to unravel the genetic evolution of modern organisms. This work is extremely valuable in the effort to establish an accurate biography of Earth's organisms. But the field of paleogenomics is also of interest in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.