I first wanted to thank you for the
wonderful reception are really
excited to talk to such a nice guy
public and I hope you do not get entangled
tomatoes I think it’s a long time
rough for me to talk about the desert
what is the desert, the desert?
penultimate frontier from the famous words
star trek is not the last but the
penultimate because the penultimate because a
desert says games contains a sound the
sound of emptiness the sound of a broad
space there are many definitions of
desert as a poet one can think of the
great silence as a scientist like
scientist the desert a gym is
a gym that allows us to be able to
understanding many things on our planet is
a gym where there is a meeting between
the sky and the earth between the water and the
land between the fire the ice there are
many kinds of deserts and here is one
tracking of deserts of the solar system
not necessarily put in the order
because there was no label for which there
leave a little guess where there
we find
if we find ourselves on earth or elsewhere e
it is possible to see the meeting of
different materials
the wind that sculpts creates dunes
dunes that can be in nothing in the
depth of space in the deserts of the
our planet different materials ashes
volcanic sand quartz sand of
basalt sadistic sandy black sands
minerals and precious stones that we do not
we also know that they are precious
but they are very small that they give
these incredible colors these forms
carved from the area sculpted by water
sculpted by nature that decorates
the surface and the skin of the earth
like a wonderful design and us
we can also see
ok we can see clay beds
sediments that have been eroded themselves
accumulated tell us that there was
water is a great theme in the water
desert because it is a factor
limiting we know that water is
present in large quantities or in the
at such funds the deserts and a large one
paradoxical all the deserts of ours
planet have very large reserves
of water but what fascinates us of
more is the fact that water settles
of sediments and these sediments there
they say there has been a few billion water
years ago a few million years ago
maybe only a week ago I have
a few hours ago is the theme of water a
very important theme because I myself
I take care to understand if on other planets there
it can be life and it starts from one
the assumption that a planet must have one
ecology and ecology need water
just as we know life a year
and the fundamental application before that
main is what we do
research on mars not on mars for i
put other planets in the future on mortar
we know that there was water mars
deeply different from our planet
today because it is a gigantic desert
cold in the past mars had a
atmosphere perhaps still had river
He had seen the beautiful
images that we can see that
they return of the various missions and mars
it is much smaller than the earth and has
lost his own atmosphere maybe during
the first billion years
the first billion of life this life
this is the life of these planets
all the planets of ours alone
started aldo at the same time e
then every planet has turned into one
different way
a very important thing that in
deserts we learn the extreme limits
of life as we know it by the
water limitation but they can
do many other things you can
test technologies for example if
I will send to Mars I must first
know how this will now be able to
climb a buna or like this rover
will be able to move through the
rocks
so we use deserts as one
environment in which you can test at the end
before sending a roberz a certain
planet an instrumentation on the certain
planet as it will move and that by shape
and performance will be another thing
Interesting
the analogy we talk about analogs
analogous planeta and analogous on what
there are so many levels of analogies
difference is perhaps more
differences that are important but the
similarities can be of the type
geological morphology we can have
of the roosters we can have structures
geological have been rose and from the water
so much water when it is water
success this
and as you can see from the images there
they are different types of flat tops
clay beds
I challenge anyone to understand from these
images behind me where it was
took the lake the lake de parched on
mars or one of our planets
according to you which is that to ob
think about it a little bit, I can
anticipate that one of these photos is
been taken in an environment of the valley
of the death that I have studied from
I ‘ve been there for several years
I was completely fascinated
from a whole series of aspects the appearance
scientific that spoke my mind
the appearance we say is typical of the place
the enormous energy of the place that speaks
my heart is also from the aspect of
to survive in this environment
so survive my mission of
researcher talking to my belly
all the elements are involved
survival to curiosity e
the empathy of sharing also of
what I learn with you all
and something that is also very fascinating
there are many within the specifics
types of deserts these deserts come
defined in the context of how much water
we have is a constant struggle
in the raid how much water the desert
receives and ranges from 2 mm per year as in
case of the atacama desert at 200
millimeters a year until the first
semidesertici of 5 6 times more us
here we are in the Mediterranean environment
so we have up to 7,700 1000 mm per
comparison with the 700 1000 to 2 mm and that
It almost never rains to say that when
it is raining
rain is not enough to have
vegetation and also animals and also
microbes the atacama desert is a lot
fascinating for this because it is not there
organic matter there is no DNA microbes
they are dead or dying because they do not
they live there but they are transported by the
wind and after a while they arrive there and fall
die the atacama desert is a lot
important because it is the desert of the gods
desert the driest desert of ours
planet and why so in the aftermaths
a number of factors, first of all, not
it rains it does not arrive even the fog the
pacific fog of spoons the air
coming from the Pacific Ocean in
South America can not penetrate into
desert laden air moisture in
South America that comes from the lung of the
amazon basin fails to
penetrate then it is called a double
conno of shadow donno don dan and if as one
bomb shielded by rain and raining
really very little but we can say
that this rain we can
to have even Enlightenment itself succeeds in
support some microbes
we do not have microbes in the soil
however we have very few in it
surface going deeper
he came back more and they always find it
more as there are many studies
that continue in the last ten years
but what we have we have these
expanses of salts that have formed
millions of years ago when we were so busy
water that are now carved
from wind erosion to form these
beautiful structures that seem to be
death you approach them rite what is this
block of marble a block of saks ale
then you approached look you look at you
hammer gives a scratch and that
what’s going on inside this cluster of
salt is that green thing that
that shadow a little shadow of
see what this stuff I just do not
I eat there all taste all are
very curious so if not just the
green lettuce but it will really be a
little by nature what is that green
they are called microorganisms
cyan bacteria that live a little bit
everywhere, many environments live in the
waters live in the ocean and if we
let’s see we see these cells
red what are these red cells
they are red cells that have been
colored were colored because
they are still alive these cells succeed
to use the water at the minimum amount
of water that is absorbed by the salt
all of you have maybe the salt in the
your kitchen that at some point if
do not let it get tough because
it becomes two because it absorbs water
of the atmosphere of your kitchen
and then you sindhu remake the same thing
it happens there this thing this is
success even on mars on mars there are
salt deposits and even mortars today
it could have that minimum of atmosphere
of moisture that in the presence of salt can
create a micro environment in which some
microorganisms could live
there are many examples of this ad
example in the death valley in the valley
from many we have other salt deposits
with a condominium of microorganisms that
they live in these deposits, one does not
see from above they are not seen from
satellite can not be seen even if I do
I just have to go look and look
to dig
there are also other types of deserts there
I am deserted in Antarctica with me this
here this is an example of the desert
of the b with valley is a cold desert
where we have snowfall
but for most of the year
greed is given by the fact that you make a
cold weather does not always snow yet
this desert is made of rocks that
they are called stern stones that contain
of organisms that only a similar pour
to those of atacama it is no longer salt and
they are quartz grains but they are still
they are able to live in this
environment still other examples that
we can have
sometimes organisms do not live
inside the rocks they live above the
sepe rocks exploiting the humidity of the
or live below this is a
example of the namib desert in the
Central South Africa that is another
beautiful desert that is not supported
from the rain but it is supported by the da
this from this fog this moisture
who had from the ocean
then we have strengths in the pools
deserts the pools are very important
because these pools can give one
small relief to organisms that
they live in these forces are formed in
followed by very violent phenomena like
sudden thunderstorms in which it rains in
an hour or in a few minutes what in
theory should rain six months that is
the distribution of water as well
very important and has the double effect
to create puddles that last
little can last a few days can
lasting a few hours can last a few pounds
a few weeks the example that I study
lasts for a couple of weeks the beauty of
this is huge evaporation
especially in the summer but there are these
microbes that in this case are
b needing water
greater quantity of water not
more than just a film is enough
small since they need so much
water even if then very little time e
is an algal bloom in the turn of
a few hours within a few hours
microorganisms live and reproduce
they leave the spores there are others too
examples always the desert of atacama ma
also the desert of deval and le
blooms every fifteen years there are
of the rainiest years, therefore it rains
much more and the seeds of the plants of the
flowers that have been dormant ten
years on our planet
ten years is a long period but not
so long they could be too
hundreds of thousands of years because
the expo and micro- organisms
they can live too long and then
we have these beautiful blooms that
they are ephemeral they really have a lot
little
I part of the merchandise goes down into the
mont avic desert in california
southern center and the deval and the valley
of death and one is an excuse a sul
desert territory of Mali that
even hotter because it’s a pit
tectonics and below the level of the
never because for which there is a further
evaporation effect
the hay that comes from the peaceful must
pass different if different harrah’s
mountain every time a chain passes
mountain range of the air becomes more and more
dry an environment that was really
fascinating that I began to
discover that of the crater of wolves
Libyan remains in the northern part of the
of the value the bb criterion is a place
truly mystical is a sacred place
team of scanscio ni for which it is a lot
also difficult to find
respectful but it is very interesting
because we have clay deposits that
they are very similar to those that are
currently investigated
on mars and we also have sediments
the right kind that tells us that there is
much more water in the past and one
research that is interdisciplinary because
involves the environmental context that is
understand the environment as the environment evolves
what are the extremes of temperature
we have maximum temperatures 48 degrees a
minus 16 degrees this is the environment in
I work a lot of work on my own
because I have to go there I have to collect
a sample to see the microbes in the
when it is warmer 48 degrees 15
August or I must find myself in winter
when it’s colder because I need it
that champion
obviously I have to go when there is water
so I have to go
when it rains when there are storms
everyone escaped the range from the valley
now they see me arrive when it rains
I arrived safe because it is important if
them neither before nor after
because on the contrary, you only need to first because
first we need to understand what happened
first I had a sample of when the
soil is drier arrives and after
because we need to understand what happened
after measuring the depth of the water
as much as 2 but not during
not during because as you will see
a stormy sky my poor
machine in this desert stage after a
flash flood event is no longer there
road so one does not want to be in
that moment
and there is this dimension of adventure
of remaining faithful to a program from
run and keep wines succeeded in
survive the heat or alfredo
loneliness even to the fear of remaining
sodium times we all have one
great imagination to stay in the dark
at night stop in the desert alone or
my mother we will be told bush
our imagination begins to work
work imagining show us more
scary monsters we have inside
our belly our fear the
our security
but when one is alone there in silence
in the silence yes yes yes yes to begin to
to hear voices of intuition voices
the voices of understanding what is being done
the next day to get a sample
better an environmental sample from da
study and there is the dimension of the
silence and the starry sky de la
ballet to one of the most starry skies
important in the world is a very area
important because there is not much
light for which they only learn to
hear the sound of silence but yes
learn to see the color of the dark and ed
it’s a truly incredible feeling
and the feeling still pink olives when
you meet someone and you want to
truly communicate what one is
learned and on this dimension there
I wanted to leave with only one idea
because we too with my team of
research we turn the world and sometimes
we visit many countries we find ourselves at
talk to many people to many kids
and many children of many
community and and see them smile when
we talk about planetary science of the
looking for life really something that
it makes us continue this kind of work
not just for us as scientists but
also for what we can pass
to the next generations
thank you
[Music]
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