My job is to figure out how stuff rots underwater: originally in seawater, more recently in marine sediments and freshwater environments like lakes and rivers. For me, this means trying to understand the enzymatic machinery that communities of heterotrophic microorganisms use to break down complex organic carbon molecules. At this meeting, I’ll speak in a session about biogeochemistry and climate change (10:30 am, Hall IV, Session 9b: How do biogeochemical cycles operate on a high-CO2 planet?), in which I’ll try to make the case that we can better predict and understand how the marine carbon cycle will respond to climate change if we know more about how microbial enzymes related to carbon degradation work.

I feel like we’re at a special time in geochemistry, in which we can start to use ‘omics’ tools (e.g. metagenomics, single-cell genomics) to make quantitative predictions about how biological systems interact with geochemical cycles. As such, some of the talks and posters in session 6d: Geo-genomics and 6f: Marine and Terrestrial Subsurface Microbiology could be very interesting. More generally, I’m relatively new to Goldschmidt meetings – this will be my second one. I have more often been to ASLO-sponsored Ocean Sciences or Aquatic Sciences meetings, at which the focus is often more ecological than geochemical. I’m looking forward to spending a week thinking about my field from a more strictly geochemical viewpoint.

You can find me on Twitter (@drdrewsteen).

Hi Goldschmidt! I’m a French-Serbian visual artist who intertwines my illustration practice with scientific questions and I’m  the first ever Artist-in-residence @Goldschmidt2015. I have followed geological fieldwork with my sketchbook (e.g. to Labrador in 2012) and I’ve created fake front pages of famous scientific journals with tongue-in-cheek details. I’ll be attending the Poster Sessions every day from 5-7pm at my booth on the third floor of the Congress centre, where I’ll be displaying my sketches of the day and working on new illustrations. You will be able to see “A Doodle A Day. The Graphic Proceedings of the Goldschmidt Conference” on the conference’s social media everyday. Come and say hello!

http://nastasialouveau.com

Hey hey, I’m Andy Bray, a Post Doc from the Earth Surface Science Institute at the University of Leeds. The last time I was in Prague was for my first Goldschmidt, way back in 2011. That was a great meeting, and I have a feeling that 2015’s event will be even better.

Through my research, I aim to illuminate what happens at mineral-fluid-microorganism interfaces, giving us more information on how minerals weather, nutrients and elements cycle, and how life plays it’s part. I’m currently working on Resource Recovery and Remediation of Alkaline Wastes (R³AW), but at this meeting I’ve been invited to present on work from my PhD, how organic acids are involved in mineral weathering, on Wednesday afternoon in session 5d.

After looking at the programme, it seems I’ll be spending a lot of my time in Terrace 1 in the Theme 5 sessions. I’m particularly looking forward to 5a – The Global Weathering Thermostat: A Tribute to Bob Berner’s Legacy. I’ll also be dropping in and out of themes 4, 6, 7, 10, and 15.

On the blogging front, I’ll be doing my best to highlight excellent bits of work through the meeting, and each day I’ll be giving you “Andy’s pick of the Day”. Keep your eye out and follow me on Twitter (@brayaw)!