Geology Professor Thomas Hickson is back in the lab at the University of St. Thomas after spending four months abroad as a Fulbright Scholar in Spain. Hickson collaborated with Spanish geoscientists in the Madrid area to study microbialites, ancient rocks that may provide clues to the evolution of early life on Earth and on other planets.
Hosted by the Institute of Geosciences in Madrid, Hickson collected specimens from areas around the country. Back in Minnesota, the geologist will now analyze those samples using electron microscopy and different chemical techniques.
In collaboration with his new partners across Europe, Hickson is also developing an online catalog of microbialite samples. Scientists from around the globe will soon be able to access the portal to compare their findings and share new research.
The Newsroom recently interviewed the Fulbright Scholar about his time researching microbialites in Spain. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: You’ve visited Peru, Mexico and Spain previously on shorter research trips. What was it like immersing yourself in the Spanish culture for an entire semester?
It was great. We were able to rent an apartment in the old center of Madrid, a district called La Latina, and then I could take the metro out to the Institute where I was working. It was really amazing to be able to live right in the heart of Madrid, and to just be in that culture all the time.
Madrid, even though it's this big city, feels like a small town. The care that you experience every day is amazing. From the way that parents interact with their kids – they're treated like young adults – to when I was on the metro and it was just expected that you would give up your seat for older people. This caring for other people was really wonderful.
Q: Why is Spain a good place to study microbialites?
Well, for several reasons. One, there are really good exposures of microbialites in Spain and the Iberian Peninsula. So, it's one of the places in the world where I can go look at them. But probably more importantly, there's a really strong community of geologists that are working on them in Spain and in nearby France. And so, for me, it was a way to get to know that community of scholars and potentially collaborate with them.
Q: What can we learn from these ancient rocks? And why should we care about them?
Microbialites are essentially rocks that are formed by microbes, small single-cell organisms. One reason they are so important is that they are indicators of life, right? So, when we’re telling the story of life on Earth and how life evolved, they are the earliest evidence that we have of life on this planet.
The other reason they're really important is that, right now, there is a rover driving around Mars with instruments on it that are literally looking for these types of rocks. NASA scientists are looking for microbialites, because that would be the first good evidence that there was life on Mars. We don't expect life on Mars to look like us. If we're going to find evidence for life on other planets, it's most likely going to be in the form of rocks made by microbes.
There are also economic reasons why these are important. Energy companies are interested in microbialites because they are potential sources of petroleum. They also tend to be associated with the element lithium in some places on Earth, which is really important for the green economy and lithium batteries.
Q: What kind of specimens were you able to gather in Spain?
By working with different experts, I was able to see microbialites and collect samples in a range of different environments. But I didn’t really want to compete with the geologists who were already there studying these rocks. A big part of my trip was to engage with those partners to develop a community of folks that want to create an open-source, digital database of microbialites. I want us to have a public way to compare samples and to talk about the environments in which they form.
I did bring back a box of about 11 kg of rock samples, and those have all been cut into small slabs. And so what I'll be doing now is processing those samples in our labs at St. Thomas and doing some chemistry on them. But I’m not necessarily hoping to find something new that my Spanish partners haven’t already found. What I really want to be able to do is build a database for our growing community.
How do you plan to incorporate your research and experiences as a Fulbright Scholar into the classroom at St. Thomas?
I hope my students will be able to start working with some of these samples from Spain in various ways. But at an even more basic level, when I teach geology, especially an introductory geology class, I try to make the work as relevant to their lives as possible. If I can bring examples from other places in the world and other cultures, it helps students see that geology isn't just this weird, obscure corner of science, but that it's a global discipline with scientists working on interesting problems and ideas all over the world.
Q: Any favorite memories you’ll take away from your Fulbright experience?
It's honestly just going to be the tranquilo life they live in Spain. They have this culture where you work hard, but then you also have time to enjoy life. People are outdoors all the time enjoying a drink with friends, even in the coldest weather, even in the rain. And it just has this feel of community that I love. And that's something I'm really going to take with me – a sort of tranquilo Spanish attitude toward life and social interaction.
