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Betül Kaçar

Dr. Betül Kaçar is a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor and NASA-funded research leader exploring life’s early evolution. Her team has developed methods to uncover ancient biological innovations. She earned her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Emory and trained at Harvard in Evolutionary Biology.

A woman with short dark hair and a white sleeveless top sits with her arms crossed, looking directly at the camera against a plain light background.

A fantastical creature with a human face, colorful body, four legs, and spiky hair stands on grass, illustrated in a medieval manuscript style.

The ocean is evolving, and it’s not based on the ‘survival of the fittest’

The ocean is evolving, and it’s not based on the ‘survival of the fittest.’ Astrobiologist Betül Kaçar explains how it’s not competition that has kept the ocean alive, but collaboration.

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3 min

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Black and white illustration of a stylized human eye in the top left and a detailed depiction of an eyeball’s internal structure in the bottom right on a beige background.

What NASA is really looking for in space

We may be close to finding life beyond Earth. But would we even recognize it if we did? Astrobiologist Betül Kaçar explains what signs NASA is looking for.

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3 min

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A petri dish containing various colorful bacterial colonies growing on agar, viewed from above against a dark background.

Meet the survivors of Earth’s worst days

These microbes endured the unlivable. The NASA astrobiologist who studies them reveals what that means for us today

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7 min

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