A new Goldilocks for habitable planets

The search for habitable, alien worlds needs to make room for a second "Goldilocks," according to a Yale University researcher.

55-year old dark side of the Moon mystery solved

(Phys.org) —The Man in the Moon appeared when meteoroids struck the Earth-facing side of the moon creating large flat seas of basalt that we see as dark areas called maria. But no "face" exists on farside of the moon and ...

Preparing for alien life

At a recent event sponsored by NASA and the Library of Congress, a group of scientists and scholars explored how we might prepare for the inevitable discovery of life beyond Earth.

Pond scum explains evolution of first animals

Microbial mats that existed on sea floors prior to the Cambrian explosion provided the foundation for early animal life to arise, new research looking at trace fossils of that early life has found.

How did life become complex, and could it happen beyond Earth?

When astrobiologists contemplate life on nearby planets or moons, they often suggest such life would be simple. Instead of there being some kind of multicellular organism on, say, Jupiter's moon Europa, scientists instead ...

NASA team investigates complex chemistry at Titan

(Phys.org) —A laboratory experiment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., simulating the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan suggests complex organic chemistry that could eventually lead to the building blocks ...

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