NASA encourages cross-disciplanary research

Science : An attempt to break up the boundaries between four different NASA science divisions was the aim recently of a unique four-day meeting in Boulder, Colorado. Although similarities between research carried out on Earth and observations of planetary systems light years away may be difficult to spot, the laws of physics are universal. One session looked at the connections between terrestrial tropical wind models and observations of winds on an exoplanet. Others discussed connections between methane on Jupiter’s moon Titan and water on Earth. Organizers now hope that NASA will create a fund to support such cross-fertilization research.