Xenobiology, as a research area, investigates biological systems that differ fundamentally from known terrestrial life in their molecular composition, information carriers, or biochemical logic, aiming to define and experimentally explore alternative forms of life. It encompasses the design and study of organisms with expanded genetic alphabets, noncanonical nucleic acids or amino acids, alternative metabolic pathways, and orthogonal biological networks that do not cross-talk with natural biosystems. Xenobiology research informs the theoretical limits of life, biosafety through genetic firewalls, and the development of novel biotechnological platforms with tailored properties, while providing conceptual and experimental frameworks relevant to astrobiology and the characterization of life’s possible chemistries.
Extremophiles are a favorite tool of astrobiologists. But not only are they good for understanding the kind of extreme environments that life can survive in, sometimes they are useful as actual tools, creating materials necessary ...
Space Exploration
Sep 9, 2025
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Finding life beyond Earth would be a major scientific discovery with significant implications for all areas of science and human thought. Yet, only one direct search for extraterrestrial life has ever been conducted.
Space Exploration
Sep 8, 2025
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Mars still holds the promise of being one of the first places in the solar system humanity will colonize. However, if there was evolutionarily distinct, extant life on the planet, it might sway the heart of even the most ...
Astrobiology
Aug 14, 2025
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Searching for life on Mars has been an explicit goal of the astrobiological community for decades. However, they have not really had the resources to effectively do so, and they might be running out of time. Crewed missions ...
Planetary Sciences
Aug 7, 2025
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Researchers at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) have created the world's simplest artificial cell capable of chemical navigation, migrating toward specific substances like living cells do.
Cell & Microbiology
Jul 25, 2025
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As humanity sets its sights on long-duration missions to the moon, Mars, and beyond, keeping astronauts healthy will be as critical as building rockets or habitats. A new paper appearing in npj Microgravity explores the possibilities ...
Space Exploration
Jul 15, 2025
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The future of sustained space habitation depends on our ability to grow fresh food away from Earth. The revolutionary new collaborative Moon-Rice project is using cutting-edge experimental biology to create an ideal future ...
Agriculture
Jul 9, 2025
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To overcome the inherent challenge of translation termination interference caused by stop codon reprogramming in mammalian cells, researchers from Peking University led by Chen Peng from College of Chemistry and Molecular ...
Biotechnology
Jun 27, 2025
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Scientists are revolutionizing the search for extraterrestrial life by challenging our somewhat Earth-centric assumptions about where and how life might exist in the universe. A new review argues that we must embrace the ...
Astrobiology
Jun 18, 2025
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Most astronomers agree that life is likely common throughout the universe. While Earth is the only world known to have life, we know that life arose early in our world, and the building blocks of life, including amino acids ...
Astrobiology
May 12, 2025
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