Water Cycle in Arid Regions
Lab Simulations of Hydrothermal Vents
Analysis of Planetary Analog Samples
Studying Planetary Geochemistry with Simulated Materials
Welcome to the Origins and Habitability Laboratory!
Research Directions
We are astrobiologists who study the origin of life and how life can exist on other worlds. Our group consists of geologists, biologists, chemists, engineers, and others. We work on a variety of projects to understand how geological conditions impact life in planetary environments such as early Earth, Mars, icy moons of the outer planets, and exoplanets.
Contact us to learn more about student, postdoc, collaboration, and visitor opportunities!
Recent Lab News
JPL Intern profile
Erika Flores was profiled on the JPL Education website talking about her astrobiology internship experience.
New paper published!
A new paper on abiotic amino acid synthesis in hydrothermal vents has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Field work in the UK
Scott Perl spent two weeks doing field work in a salt mine in England 1.2km below the Earth's surface looking at ancient salt samples from the Zechstein Formation that preserve biosignatures.
Intrepid Museum, NYC
Laurie Barge gave a talk at Family Astronomy Night at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, New York City, August 2018.
COSPAR conference
OHL group members attended the COSPAR meeting in Pasadena, July 2018. Scott Perl and Laurie Barge gave talks about astrobiology on Mars and ocean worlds.
New Sabbatical visitor
We welcome our new visiting researcher, Dr. Jason Pagano from Saginaw Valley State University. Jason is a chemist who works on self-organizing chemical systems including chemical gardens. He will be doing his one year sabbatical with our group during 2018-2019.