Exploring The Boundaries: The Science of Extremes Symposium

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences is playing host to an interesting symposium in a few weeks that is likely to be of interested to readers. The program, which is entitled "Exploring The Boundaries: The Science of Extremes," will examine our evolving knowledge and understanding of extreme environments both here on Earth and on other planets.

The two day conference, which is being chaired by Professor Bengt Norden and Lorie Karnath of the Molecular Frontiers organization, will feature a host of lecturers who will discuss possibilities for exploration in extreme environments. Panel discussions will center around exploration in space, the unique environments found on other planets and the amazingly diverse, yet sometimes hostile, environments that exist on our own world. The symposium will take on some big questions, such as where exactly we should be exploring, while also attempting to answer exactly why we should still be exploring in this day and age. 

The symposium will run from 9:00AM to 6:00PM  on May 28-29. It is free and open to the public, although registration prior to the event is required. To find out more about this program, including the names of lecturers and more details on the topic, click here. 

This looks to be an extremely interesting conference and I'd love to be able to attend if it were in my neighborhood. Exploration in the 21st century isn't looked upon as an important pursuit at times, although I happen to think that it is as crucial now as ever. Convincing the general public of that isn't an easy sell, particularly with times still being tough economically. But exploration expands our understanding of our world and beyond, while also opening us up to new possibilities. Something that isn't always apparent at first glance.

Update: Here is a link to the Symposium's final schedule. Lots of interesting stuff on tap!