By IANS,
Los Aageles: The University of Southern California (USC) has announced it will set up a new science and technology centre to study life below the earth’s surface.
The university will use a $25-million grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the centre for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations, Xinhua reported Saturday.
“Our mission statement is to understand the extent, function, dynamics and implication of the existence of a deep biosphere on Earth. We focus on the marine realm because it is by far the biggest challenge in terms of potential habitat size,” said USC biological science and earth sciences professor Katrina J. Edwards.
“Given the maturity of the field and the significant advancement in technology, this is an ideal time to establish the centre,” Edwards said. “My team and I are thrilled to receive this extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with scientists from around the globe as we pursue our ambitious, education and diversity goals.”
Edwards and her research partners will conduct an international, coordinated mission to explore beneath the earth’s ocean floor in three main field projects at the North Pond section of the Atlantic Ocean, on the Juan de Fuca plate off British Columbia, and under the South Pacific Gyre, south of the equator between South America and Australia.
Nearly half of the total biomass on earth resides in habitats below the earth’s solid or liquid surface, including in aquifers, soils, sediments and rocks below both the continents and below the ocean floor, according to the USC statement.
USC was one of five institutions to win a new Science and Technology Centre award following a recent, merit-based competition in which 247 preliminary proposals had been received.
“These five new centres will involve teams of researchers and educators, integrate learning and discovery in innovative ways, tackle complex problems that require the long-term support afforded by this programme and lead to the development of new technologies with significant impact well into the future,” said Arden L. Bement, director of the NSF in a news statement.