Professor Edward DeLong from the University of Hawaii, Manoa will present a public talk addressing how the regenerative properties of microbes make contemporary life on Earth possible.

Microbes (not dinosaurs or us!) have been the dominant life-forms on Earth for most of our planet’s 4.5 billion-year history. Since Earth’s early beginnings, microbes have been the fundamental engines of matter and energy transformation in the biologically inhabitable space that envelopes our planet, the ‘biosphere’. Microbes catalyze virtually all chemical transformations that make contemporary life possible. These virtuous properties have profound implications for the sustenance of our biosphere. We have barely begun to describe and understand the remarkable diversity, metabolisms, and regenerative properties of our microbial planet. 

The lecture will be held in the Science and Engineering Building Auditorium with a reception to follow.