Dr. Henry Sun is an associate professor at the Desert Research Institute. Before joining DRI, in 2004, he was a postdoctoral fellow, and later a staff scientist, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The main focus of his research is Mars and planetary life detection. Earthly, closer-to-home interests include the outsize ecological role of harvester ants in semiarid ecosystems and the important but largely under-appreciated role of rock-inhabiting cyanobacteria in the accelerated weathering of historical stone (marble) monuments around the world, including the Jefferson Memorial Dome.