ELife AT Phoenix Comic Fest

Last weekend, the Beyond Center hosted an outreach booth at Phoenix Comic Fest, talking to attendees about the fundamental work the Beyond center does in fields as disparate as cancer research, the nature of time, and the origin of life. We shared information on past speakers, future events, and research paper topics--exciting kids and adults alike in our research, and informing members of the public about our free and accessible lecture series.

In addition, Tessa Fisher was a panelist on three panels during Phoenix Comic Fest.  The first, Captain Kirk: Planting Seeds Across the Galaxy, was a comedic examination of the romantic adventures of Star Trek's most famous captain in the context of what we actually know about interspecies mating and hybridization here on Earth.  The second, Exobiology: Ice Fishing on Europa, featured her work on developing network theory-derived biosignatures for exoplanets.  Lastly, Rampages Against Bad Science had Tessa and several other scientist opine on what they considered to be the worst science they'd seen in science fiction recently (in Tessa's case, the fact that in Alien: Covenant, despite being lured to an uncharted planet where it was obvious a terrible ecological catastrophe had happened recently, no one thought to wear environmental suits or protection).  This is her third year participating in science panels at Phoenix Comic Fest.

Tessa (2nd from left) on a panel at Phoenix Comic Fest