Workshop on the mysteries and the life
Event report: OIST x iTHEMS Workshop Series 1
Unlocking the Enigma - SOME GOOD REASONS FOR DREAMING
By Hiroyo Clemente and Mari Bergsvåg
Renowned globally for its eminent scientists and cutting-edge infrastructures, RIKEN is the largest Japanese research organization in basic natural sciences. This distinction renders RIKEN a very attractive partner for OIST, a burgeoning research-oriented university. Cementing their collaborative endeavorsm, both institutes signed bilateral agreements including a MoU in 2020-2021, triggering and facilitating ambitious projects and fostering new collaborations. Among these, RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences Program (iTHEMS) has emerged as a dynamic hub for active collaboration with OIST.
The workshop “OIST x iTHEMS Exploring the Mysteries of the Universe and Life - Series 1 | Cosmic ray and Life project” held at OIST on March 4-6 may be one best example of the type of brainstorming needed for addressing the most challenging questions.
Life outside Earth has not been discovered and the possibility of a life beyond our solar system shrouded in speculation after various efforts to remotely detect physical and chemical conditions required for life to exist or have existed. Norio Narita (University of Tokyo) offered a comprehensive view on how exoplanets more or less suitable for hosting life can be studied. While the absence of extraterrestrial life may disappoint the lay audience, the subject is fueling highly diverse questions for physicists, chemists and biologists -A focal point of the workshops’s disclosure.
Not all such questions can be listed here, but a couple of important ones well emerged during the meeting, they actually mobilize experimental and theoretical efforts in units of both institutions. The study of life in unusual or changing environmental conditions was the subject of presentations from Ryosuke Iritani (RIKEN), Evan Economo (OIST), Georgii Karelin (OIST), David Armitage (OIST) and Ulf Dieckman (OIST). While partly driven by the climate change predictions, it is also indirectly inspiring for apprehending extraterrestrial life.
The meeting also efficiently elucidated realm of cosmic rays, from talks of RIKEN (Shigehiro Nagataki, Naomi Tsuji, and Camilia Demidem) and OIST (Jonathan Dorfan, former OIST President). Most molecular biologists and ecologists are probably not familiar with cosmic rays but they have roles to play in uncovering their impacts on life, past and future evolution, which were introduced by Evan Economo (OIST).
Finally, beyond the confines of traditional disciplinary boudaries, the workshop showcased the state of the art methodologies in diverse domains, such as studies of cell aging (Keiko Kono, OIST), molecular evolution (Jeffrey Fawcett, RIKEN), genome replication (Florian Pflug, OIST), biological rhythms (Gen Kurosawa, RIKEN), regulation of gene expression (Haytham Mohamed, OIST) and hibernation (Shingo Gibo, RIKEN).
The interdisciplinary nature of the discussions underscored the symbiotic relationship between astrophysics and biology, illuminating novel avenues for exploration. Evidenced by the rapt attention of the audience and their many questions to speakers, this multidisciplinary meeting seems to have attained its immediate objectives. Many of us did learn a lot as soon as a talk deviated from what we are familiar with.
The catalytic effect of these deliberations is palpable, with attendees posed to embark on novel research trajectories fueled by newfound insights. This is clearly the opinion of two main contributors to the meeting, who kindly expressed their opinion in short interviews. From the iTHEMS, Shigehiro Nagataki saw the meeting as a successful communication with OIST on the cosmic ray-life connection and astrophysics-biology in general. iTHEMS would like to invite scientists from OIST in the future for presenting seminars. They also hope to continue discussions on the experiment in the OIST's tunnel (Jonathan Dorfan’s talk) to measure cosmic muons that may induce biological changes in cells, which may be related to cell aging (Keiko Kono’s talk). From OIST, Keiko Kono, said that the meeting fulfilled her expectations and she is emphasizing that there’s already some collaborations in progress.
Indeed, scientists can be very good at nurturing dreams, and not many topics can evoke as much wonder and curiosity as the profound mysteries of our Universe! As collaborative endeavors between institutions like OIST and RIKEN continue to flourish, the realm of scientific inquiry stand poised on the threshold of unprecedented discoveries, driven by the insatiable human quest for knowledge and understanding.
INVITATION PAGE: OIST x iTHEMS workshop series - Will We Find Answers? INVITATION
PROGRAM: OIST x iTHEMS workshop series - Will We Find Answers? PROGRAM
Photos: Jeff Prime