Photosynthesis maintains Earth's habitability for life as we know it, and shapes the way we search for habitable worlds around distant stars. Scientists have discovered a microbe that can use low-energy light ...
Mar 16, 2012
4.8 / 5 (6)
7
|
Any intelligent extraterrestrial life that exists probably won't announce itself by blowing up the White House, or win over the hearts of children as a lovable alien with a glowing finger. Many scientists ...
Oct 28, 2011
4.1 / 5 (19)
97
|
Detecting water on the surface of exoplanets is becoming a high priority for researchers, as surface water is considered a requirement for habitability. New research examines whether or not the "glint" of ...
Jul 13, 2012
4 / 5 (5)
4
|
The search for life should be an essential component of a sample return mission from Mars, according to a recent report examining the science behind such a venture.
Apr 20, 2012
4.4 / 5 (8)
13
|
Most scientists who study the origin of life assume that it occurred in the ocean. But a minority view is that ions in seawater may interfere with prebiotic chemistry, making a freshwater environment more ...
Jan 19, 2012
3.4 / 5 (5)
0
|
New research predicts the criteria needed for Earth-like planets to form around a star that have one-tenth the metallicity of our Sun. If researchers find small, rocky planets orbiting stars with lower metallicity, ...
Apr 10, 2012
5 / 5 (1)
9
|
We know for certain that life exists in the Milky Way galaxy: that life is us. Scientists are continually looking to understand more about how life on our planet came to be and the conditions that must be ...
Sep 23, 2011
4.9 / 5 (8)
12
|
An incoming asteroid is trouble whether you're a dinosaur or a Bruce Willis fan. But microbes living deep underground may actually welcome the news, according to a recent study of an ancient impact in the ...
Apr 16, 2012
4.8 / 5 (5)
4
|
Soon the rover Curiosity will land on Mars. By design it won't involve life-detection, but it was assembled to look for the carbon-based building blocks of Martian life and to explore the possible habitats ...
Aug 03, 2012
not rated yet
14
|
The ocean underneath the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa could be too acid to support life, due to compounds that may regularly migrate downward from its surface, researchers find.
Mar 01, 2012
4 / 5 (5)
2
|
Volcanoes bring death and destruction, but out of the ashes life soon finds fertile ground. A unique experiment is sifting through floating debris from an ongoing volcanic event to see how microbes move in. ...
May 01, 2012
5 / 5 (2)
0
|
Water may have played a role in forming plains of volcanic glass that spread across nearly a third of Mars. The discovery of this volcanic glass could steer scientists toward subglacial lakes where martian ...
Apr 26, 2012
5 / 5 (1)
5
|
When NASA announced the discovery of over 1,200 new potential planets spotted by the Kepler Space Telescope, almost a quarter of them were thought to be Super-Earths. Now, new research suggests that these ...
Sep 16, 2011
4.8 / 5 (11)
38
As the Kepler space telescope continues to search for potentially habitable planets, it also may reveal moons that could host life. Three new simulations will help astronomers identify rocky satellites that ...
Jan 06, 2012
5 / 5 (3)
8
|
Observations over the last decade suggest that methane clouds form briefly over Mars during the summer months. The discovery has left many scientists scratching their heads, since it doesn't fit into models ...
Sep 13, 2011
5 / 5 (6)
13
|
