The Seasons of Research

John Malloy, Jessica Noviello & Jen Walsh

Spring tide on Europa
alien krill spawn
unseen to human tools

Torpedoes glide through summer seas
not to destroy
but to discover

Chemistry breaks down
Does it fall into a word?
Is it all the same?

Winter, dark, icy, cold
A young krill’s dream
Ice melts like words off a page

The Science

This is a speculative glance at what life in the ocean moon Europa's subsurface ocean might be like and how that life reacts to a new season. It also emphasises the need of all life to propagate and grow, no matter where it lives. The AERD (Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division) at NOAA studies the Antarctic ecosystem and Antarctic krill biology., and one way we can study chemistry is to break down compounds into component parts, which can be studied like words in a text. The AERD also studies Antarctic krill biology, with krill larvae relying on depleting sea ice for nutrition, shelter, and overwinter survival.

The Poets

John Malloy is a PhD candidate in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. He is broadly interested in the evolution of life, both on Earth and beyond. He uses cheminformatics, network science, and linguistic methods to quantify the evolutionary transition from non-living chemical reactions to living biochemical systems, with an emphasis on drug chemistry to predict novel drug structures. As a former high school teacher, John is passionate about science communication and ensuring science is introduced to all learners in an engaging, informative way. He also enjoys training for and competing in ultramarathons throughout the American Southwest. Find John @AstrobioJ & @AZSciPolNet.

Dr. Jessica Noviello is a NASA Postdoctoral Management Program Fellow for the NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Her research focuses on liquid water in the solar system and beyond: where it is located on different planetary bodies, what its composition is, and what it means for the potential habitability of that world. Jessica uses a combination of planetary surface imaging from different space missions and thermophysical modelling to understand the evolution of planetary bodies and if they could have sustained an ocean at some point. She then uses this information to understand the possible compositions and structures of exoplanets in other solar systems. When not working, she enjoys hiking, watching cooking and baking shows, and metal music. Find Jessica on Twitter @jessicanoviello and Instagram @RoadTripDinosaur.

Jen Walsh is a Research Biologist with the Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division (AERD) at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. For the first nine years of her NOAA career, she spent her time doing biochemical analyses of Antarctic krill and other zooplankton to study diet, body condition, and trophic position in relation to environmental conditions. These days, she spends her time piloting autonomous underwater gliders in Antarctica to study the distribution and abundance of krill in relation to chlorophyll concentration. When she’s not virtually chasing gliders around the Southern Ocean, she enjoys kayaking, cooking, and messing up knitting projects. Find Jen on Twitter @reluctant_pilot and on Instagram @thescholarlykrill.

Next poem: Sedimentation by C. Adeene Denton