https://phys.org/space-news/astrobiology/ en-us Astrobiology news stories about origin and evolution of life in the Universe The theory of panspermia holds that life is spread through the cosmos via asteroids, comets, and other objects. When the building blocks of life emerge on one planet, impacts can eject surface material into space, which then carries these seeds to other worlds. For decades, scientists have debated whether this could have occurred between Earth and Mars (in both directions). However, the recent controversy over the possible existence of microbial life in Venus's dense clouds has sparked discussions of interplanetary transfers between Venus, Earth, and Mars. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-life-venus-atmosphere-earth.html Astrobiology Mon, 06 Apr 2026 18:30:02 EDT news694687754 We're getting closer and closer to finding a real Earth-like exoplanet. But finding one is only half the battle. To truly know if we're looking at an Earth analog somewhere else in the galaxy, we have to directly image it too. That's a job for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), a planned space-based telescope whose primary job is to do precisely that. But even capturing a picture and a planet and getting spectral readings of its atmospheric chemistry still isn't enough, according to a new paper available on the arXiv preprint server by Kaz Gary of Ohio State and their co-authors. HWO will need to figure out how much a planet weighs first. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-habitable-worlds-observatory-astrometry-life.html Astronomy Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:20:04 EDT news694437361 The search for life on Mars involves the efforts of scientists from many different disciplines. An important aspect of that search is to study Martian sedimentary rocks for information about the planet's environment when it is likely that the surface environment hosted abundant water and therefore more habitable, around three to four billion years ago. Now, research published in the journal Geology shows evidence of an intense sandstorm that swept through Mars's Gale crater over three billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-serendipitous-discovery-martian-ripple-reveals.html Astrobiology Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:10:01 EDT news694363681 Astronomers have discovered that a giant planet, WASP-189b, echoes the composition of its host star, providing the first direct evidence of a foundational concept in astrobiology. This discovery was achieved through the first-ever simultaneous measurement of gaseous magnesium and silicon in a planet's atmosphere. The team used the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory. The findings are published in the journal Nature Communications. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gemini-south-link-composition-exoplanets.html Astrobiology Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:40:07 EDT news694274600 In 2024, NASA's Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants of ancient Martian life. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-high-nickel-martian-bedrock-potential.html Astrobiology Wed, 01 Apr 2026 15:20:09 EDT news694274606 Meteor impacts may have helped spark life on Earth, creating hot, chemical-rich environments where the first living cells could take shape, according to research integrated by a recent Rutgers University graduate. Shea Cinquemani, who earned her bachelor's degree from the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences in May 2025, has published a paper based on research she started during the spring of her senior year. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-impacts-meteors-life-earth-hydrothermal.html Astrobiology Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:20:03 EDT news694179181 Planetary surface missions currently operate cautiously. On Mars, communication delays between Earth and rovers (typically between four and 22 minutes), as well as data transfer constraints due to uplink and downlink limitations, force scientists to plan operations in advance. Rovers are designed for energy efficiency and safety, and to move slowly across hazardous terrain. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-legged-robot-resource-prospecting-moon.html Astrobiology Tue, 31 Mar 2026 00:00:01 EDT news694078201 Here's a thought experiment. Imagine looking at Earth from a distant star system, armed with a powerful telescope capable of capturing its reflected light. Could you tell the planet was alive? The answer, remarkably, might be yes and the clue would come from the color of the plants. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-betray-galaxy.html Astrobiology Mon, 30 Mar 2026 18:00:01 EDT news694085439 How does a star affect the makeup of its planets? And what does this mean for the habitability of distant worlds? Carnegie's Luke Bouma is exploring a new way to probe this critical question—using naturally occurring space weather stations that orbit at least 10% of M dwarf stars during their early lives. He presented his work at the American Astronomical Society meeting (AAS 247) held in Phoenix in January. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-scientists-harness-plasma-clumps-stellar.html Astrobiology Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:50:01 EDT news694100989 Earth and the moon may look very different today, but they formed under similar conditions in space. In fact, a dominant hypothesis says that the early Earth was hit by a Mars-sized object, and it was this giant impact that spun off material to form the moon. But unlike Earth, the moon lacks plate tectonics and an atmosphere capable of reshaping its surface and recycling elements such as oxygen over billions of years. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-titanium-apollo-uncover-moon-early.html Astrobiology Mon, 30 Mar 2026 14:40:02 EDT news694089962 Finding life beyond our solar system goes beyond measuring an exoplanet's size, as rocky, Earth-sized worlds might not have the conditions for life as we know it. While exoplanets can be directly imaged by blocking their star's glare, these images are fuzzy and lack resolution to provide enough details about the habitability. Therefore, astronomers are limited to studying an exoplanet's atmosphere, and this has proven to be quite beneficial in teaching scientists about an exoplanet's formation and evolution, and whether it contains the necessary ingredients for life as we know it. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-henrietta-spectrograph-probe-alien-atmospheres.html Astrobiology Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:00:01 EDT news694089632 Having a baby in space may require a bit more direction, with new Adelaide University research revealing the navigational abilities of sperm are negatively impacted by a lack of gravity. Researchers at the University's Robinson Research Institute, School of Biomedicine and Freemasons Center for Male Health and Wellbeing investigated how extraterrestrial conditions might influence sperm navigation, fertilization and early embryo development. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-human-sperm-lost-space.html Space Exploration Thu, 26 Mar 2026 12:00:01 EDT news693652201 A team of NASA researchers is developing new types of optical masks that could help enable the many orders of magnitude of starlight suppression needed for future space observatories to pick out very faint habitable exoplanets from the far brighter glare of their stellar hosts. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-optical-vortex-phase-masks-habitable.html Astrobiology Wed, 25 Mar 2026 12:40:08 EDT news693660601 A new study reveals all five fundamental nucleobases—the molecular "letters" of life—have been detected in samples from the asteroid Ryugu. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-fundamental-life-genetic-code-asteroid.html Astrobiology Sun, 22 Mar 2026 14:00:05 EDT news692890693 Provided they host thick, hydrogen-dominated atmospheres, moons orbiting free-floating exoplanets could retain much of the heat generated deep within their interiors by tidal forces. Led by David Dahlbüdding at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics and Giulia Roccetti at the European Space Agency, a new study predicts that hydrogen could act as a potent greenhouse gas—potentially providing habitable conditions for billions of years after their host planets are first ejected from their stellar systems. The work has been published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-moons-orbiting-exoplanets-habitable.html Astrobiology Sat, 21 Mar 2026 09:50:01 EDT news692440075 A research team from the Center for Applied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM), the Department of Environmental Process Engineering (UVT) at the University of Bremen and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has made significant progress toward a self-sufficient Mars mission: a fertilizer, which can be produced solely with Martian resources, has been successfully used to grow edible biomass. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-sufficient-mars-garden-cyanobacteria-based.html Space Exploration Fri, 20 Mar 2026 16:10:01 EDT news693227144 There's more evidence that water once flowed on Mars with the discovery of an ancient river delta deep below the surface. NASA's Perseverance rover found it more than 35 meters beneath Jezero Crater using ground-penetrating radar. Perseverance was launched in 2020 to search for signs of ancient life on the red planet. Since landing in February 2021, it has been exploring Jezero Crater and collecting rock samples. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-discovery-delta-mars-boost-life.html Astrobiology Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:40:02 EDT news693133013 If we're to find extraterrestrial life in the universe, astronomers have pinpointed the best places to look for it. They have identified just under 50 rocky worlds most likely to be habitable out of the more than 6,000 exoplanets discovered so far. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-alien-life-scientists-earth-worlds.html Astrobiology Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:31:24 EDT news693134878 Two microscopic grains collide and produce a tiny spark. This phenomenon may have provided the energy to kick off life on Earth. But if these solid particles have the same composition, what factor causes the charge to flow in a given direction? In a study published in Nature, physicists from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) identify the key factor as environmental carbon-based molecules that adhere to the materials' surface. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-colliding-creation-carbon-coated-grains.html Astrobiology Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:00:15 EDT news692980261 New experimental results have cast doubt on earlier proposals suggesting that spherical, cell-like membranes could form in the methane lakes of Saturn's largest moon. Through results published in Science Advances, Tuan Vu and Robert Hodyss at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory suggest that exobiologists will likely need to explore alternative routes when considering the possibility of life on Titan. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-hypothesis-cell-membranes-titan.html Astrobiology Tue, 17 Mar 2026 13:20:01 EDT news692963909 Here is a problem that has been quietly gnawing at astronomers for decades. The standard approach to detecting life on other worlds involves scanning exoplanet atmospheres for oxygen, methane, and ozone, whose presence is difficult to explain without biology. It's a clever idea, but it carries a hidden flaw. That entire shopping list was written by studying Earth. It is, inevitably, a search for life like us. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-life.html Astrobiology Mon, 16 Mar 2026 19:00:05 EDT news692879734 Europa is not supposed to look the way it does. Jupiter's icy moon is scarred by a chaotic patchwork of fractured terrain, crisscrossed ridges, and disrupted surface regions that suggest something dynamic is happening beneath its frozen shell. Scientists have long suspected that a vast liquid ocean, kept warm by the gravitational kneading of Jupiter's enormous gravity, lies hidden beneath that ice. Now, a new study using the James Webb Space Telescope is adding a crucial piece to the puzzle, and the implications reach right to the heart of astrobiology. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-jwst-europa-tara-regio-hinting.html Astrobiology Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:40:03 EDT news692873691 All the essential ingredients to make the DNA and RNA underpinning life on Earth have been discovered in samples collected from the asteroid Ryugu, scientists said Monday. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ryugu-asteroid-samples-dna-rna.html Astrobiology Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:26:23 EDT news692889939 Astronomers have found that both the core of our Milky Way and the earliest proto-galaxies in the universe share a surprising trait: They are unusually calm and quiet in terms of harsh radiation. This tranquility is not just a cosmic curiosity; it may be essential for forming complex molecules that provide the ingredients of life. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-galactic-islands-tranquility-red-dots.html Astronomy Thu, 12 Mar 2026 16:20:04 EDT news692548452 "Follow the water" has been a guiding mantra of astrobiology, and even space exploration more generally, for decades. If you want to find life, it makes sense to look for the universal solvent that almost all types of life on Earth use. But what if life doesn't actually need water to live or even evolve? A recent paper, available on the preprint server arXiv by researchers at MIT, including Dr. Sara Seager, and the University of Cardiff, proposes an alternative to water as the basis for life—ionic liquids (ILs) and deep eutectic solvents (DES). https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ionic-liquids-redefine-habitable-zone.html Astrobiology Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:20:01 EDT news692536413 Liquid water is considered essential for life. Surprisingly, however, stable conditions that are conducive to life could exist far from any sun. A research team from the Excellence Cluster ORIGINS at LMU and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) has shown that moons around free-floating planets can keep their water oceans liquid for up to 4.3 billion years by virtue of dense hydrogen atmospheres and tidal heating—that is to say, for almost as long as Earth has existed and sufficient time for complex life to develop. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-hydrogen-atmosphere-exomoons-habitable-billions.html Astrobiology Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:00:07 EDT news692437555 Asteroids are some of the oldest objects in the solar system: leftovers from the chaotic time when planets were assembling from dust and rock. They're time capsules, preserving clues about what the early solar system was like, and, ultimately, what the building blocks of planets are. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-asteroids.html Astrobiology Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:50:05 EDT news692268411 In 2020, a study confirmed that two planets orbited the nearby red dwarf, GJ 887. Now, astronomers have confirmed the existence of two additional planets orbiting GJ 887 in a new study published in Astronomy and Astrophysics. The new study suggests that one of these newly confirmed planets is in the habitable zone. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nearby-red-dwarf-star-hosts.html Astrobiology Mon, 09 Mar 2026 14:20:01 EDT news692274430 Red dwarfs make up the vast majority of stars in the galaxy. Such ubiquity means they host the majority of rocky exoplanets we've found so far—which in turn makes them interesting for astrobiological surveys. However, there's a catch—astrobiologists aren't sure the light from these stars can actually support oxygen-producing life. A new paper, available on the arXiv preprint server, by Giovanni Covone and Amedeo Balbi, suggests that they might not—when it comes to stellar light, quality is just as important as quantity. And according to their calculations, Earth-like biospheres are incredibly difficult to sustain around red dwarfs. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-red-dwarf-stars-starve-alien.html Astrobiology Sat, 07 Mar 2026 16:00:01 EST news691842600 Life's capacity to survive in simulated lunar and Martian soils has been explored in two papers published in Scientific Reports. Treating simulated lunar soil with both symbiotic fungi and worm-produced compost can significantly improve the likelihood of reproduction for chickpea plants growing in the soil, indicates one study. A separate paper suggests that some microbes may be able to absorb enough water from the atmosphere to grow in simulated Martian soil at atmospheric humidity levels comparable to those on the planet. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-life-mars-potential-simulated-extraterrestrial.html Astrobiology Sat, 07 Mar 2026 13:00:09 EST news691940113