Across the world there is an increasingly heavy burden of noncommunicable diseases related to obesity, mental health, and atopic disease. In a previous publication, we followed the developing idea that that these conditions arise as our microbiome loses diversity, but there seems to be no generally applicable way to assess the significance of this loss. Our work revisited the findings of the African studies by Denis Burkitt who reported that the frequency of what he called Western diseases were inversely proportional to the average faecal volumes of affected populations. Although he ascribed this to fibre in the diet, it now seems more likely that the drop in faecal volume with the onset of disease is due to the loss of a fully functioning microbiome. We suggested that the microbiome could be considered to be a single mutualistic microbial community interacting with our body by two complementary sets of semiochemicals, i.e., allomones to feed the microbiota by facilitating the efficient transfer of nutrition through the gut and kairomones to calibrate our immune system by an as yet unknown mechanism. The bioactive compounds, dopamine and serotonin, are known to be present in the gut lumen under the influence of intestinal microbiota and we suggest that these are part of this allomone-like system. In light of this possibility, it is of critical importance to develop a method of quantifying the microbiome effectiveness. Ingestible sensors consist of a miniaturized detector and transmitter packed into a capsule that is swallowed and tracked through the intestine. The aim of this article is to explore the possible development of such ingestible detectors for these or other compounds that can act as a surrogate marker for microbiome effectiveness. We consider that the ability to provide real-time quantitative information on the interaction of the microbiome with different nutrients promises to be a valuable new tool to unravel the mystery of these noncommunicable illnesses, i.e., microbiome-function deficiency diseases.

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Mars exploration motivates the search for extraterrestrial life, the development of space technologies, and the design of human missions and habitations. Here, we seek new insights and pose unresolved questions relating to the natural history of Mars, habitability, robotic and human exploration, planetary protection, and the impacts on human society. Key observations and findings include: – high escape rates of early Mars' atmosphere, including loss of water, impact present-day habitability; – putative fossils on Mars will likely be ambiguous biomarkers for life; – microbial contamination resulting from human habitation is unavoidable; and – based on Mars' current planetary protection category, robotic payload(s) should characterize the local martian environment for any life-forms prior to human habitation. Some of the outstanding questions are: – which interpretation of the hemispheric dichotomy of the planet is correct; – to what degree did deep-penetrating faults transport subsurface liquids to Mars' surface; – in what abundance are carbonates formed by atmospheric processes; – what properties of martian meteorites could be used to constrain their source locations; – the origin(s) of organic macromolecules; – was/is Mars inhabited; – how can missions designed to uncover microbial activity in the subsurface eliminate potential false positives caused by microbial contaminants from Earth; – how can we ensure that humans and microbes form a stable and benign biosphere; and – should humans relate to putative extraterrestrial life from a biocentric viewpoint (preservation of all biology), or anthropocentric viewpoint of expanding habitation of space? Studies of Mars' evolution can shed light on the habitability of extrasolar planets. In addition, Mars exploration can drive future policy developments and confirm (or put into question) the feasibility and/or extent of human habitability of space.

How did life begin on Earth? And is there life elsewhere in the Cosmos? Challenging questions, indeed. The series of conferences established by NoR CEL in 2013, addresses these very same questions. The basis for this paper is the summary report of oral presentations that were delivered by NoR CEL’s network members during the 2018 Athens conference and, as such, disseminates the latest research which they have put forward. More in depth material can be found by consulting the contributors referenced papers. Overall, the outcome of this conspectus on the conference demonstrates a case for the existence of “probable chemistry” during the prebiotic epoch.

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