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Astrobiology news

Roving the red planet: New paper documents first Mars mission soil samples
A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. The University of Nevada, Las Vegas astrobiologist leading the specimen selection team discusses ...
Astrobiology
Feb 6, 2025
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Enceladus study shows the physics of alien oceans could hide signs of life from spacecraft
Searching for life in alien oceans may be more difficult than scientists previously thought, even when we can sample these extraterrestrial waters directly.
Astrobiology
Feb 6, 2025
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Efforts to find alien life could be boosted by simple test that gets microbes moving
Finding life in outer space is one of the great endeavors of humankind. One approach is to find motile microorganisms that can move independently, an ability that is a solid hint for life. If movement is induced by a chemical ...
Astrobiology
Feb 6, 2025
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Meteorite discovery challenges long-held theories on Earth's missing elements
Understanding where Earth's essential elements came from—and why some are missing—has long puzzled scientists. Now, a new study reveals a surprising twist in the story of our planet's formation.
Astrobiology
Feb 5, 2025
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SETI researchers double-check 1 million objects for signs of alien signals
We can't help ourselves but wonder about life elsewhere in the universe. Any hint of a biosignature or even a faint, technosignature-like event wrests our attention away from our tumultuous daily affairs. In 1984, our wistful ...
Astronomy
Feb 4, 2025
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Is there life out there? The existence of other technological species is highly likely
We live in a golden age for space exploration. Scientists are gathering massive amounts of new information and scientific evidence at a record pace. Yet the age-old question remains unanswered: Are we alone?
Space Exploration
Feb 3, 2025
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How a twin Earth could detect Earth
A research team led by Dr. Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute, in collaboration with the Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures project and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center, set out to answer a simple ...
Astrobiology
Feb 3, 2025
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53

High-resolution imaging of Dyson sphere candidate reveals no radio signals
In the more than 60 years in which scientists have engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), several potential examples of technological activity ("technosignatures") have been considered.
Astronomy
Feb 3, 2025
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Life-bearing water arrived on Earth later rather than sooner, meteorite analysis suggests
A team led by a Rutgers-New Brunswick scientist has concluded water did not arrive as early during Earth's formation as previously thought, an insight that bears directly on the question of when life originated on the planet.
Astrobiology
Feb 3, 2025
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Pristine asteroid samples reveal secrets of the ancient solar system
Curtin University researchers have gained an unprecedented glimpse into the early history of our solar system through some of the most well-preserved asteroid samples ever collected, potentially transforming our understanding ...
Astrobiology
Feb 2, 2025
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135

Are we all aliens? NASA's returned asteroid samples hold the ingredients of life from a watery world
Asteroid samples fetched by NASA hold not only the pristine building blocks for life but also the salty remains of an ancient water world, scientists reported Wednesday.
Astrobiology
Feb 1, 2025
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138

One of the largest searches for alien life started 30 years ago—its legacy lives on today
In February 1995, a small research organization known as the SETI Institute launched what was then the most comprehensive search for an answer to a centuries-old question: are we alone in the universe?
Astronomy
Jan 31, 2025
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How well could Earth life survive on exoplanets?
Astronomers have found some pretty wild exoplanets. Some are balls of lava the temperature of hell, one is partially made of diamond, and another may rain molten iron. However, not all exoplanets are this extreme. Some are ...
Astrobiology
Jan 29, 2025
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Dust from asteroid Bennu suggests solar system's potential for life was widespread
It took two years for NASA's OSIRIS-REx space probe to return from asteroid Bennu before dropping off a small capsule as it flew past Earth, which was then recovered in the desert of the U.S. state of Utah on September 24, ...
Astrobiology
Jan 29, 2025
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Asteroid Bennu samples found to contain five nitrogenous bases crucial to supporting life
Asteroids, small airless bodies within the inner solar system, are theorized to have contributed water and chemical building blocks of life to Earth billions of years ago. Although meteorites on Earth come from asteroids, ...
Astrobiology
Jan 29, 2025
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Super-Earth discovery reveals an exoplanet potentially capable of sustaining life
Thirty years after the discovery of the first exoplanet, astronomers have detected more than 7,000 of them in our galaxy. But there are still billions more to be discovered. At the same time, exoplanetologists have begun ...
Astrobiology
Jan 28, 2025
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Dwarf planet Ceres may have received organic material from space objects
The organic material found in a few areas on the surface of dwarf planet Ceres is probably of exogenic origin. Impacting asteroids from the outer asteroid belt may have brought it with them.
Astrobiology
Jan 27, 2025
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139

There are places on Earth that could have life but don't. What can we learn?
About 99% of Earth is uninhabitable; in deep underground places with high pressure and temperature, even the toughest bacteria cannot survive. However, there are places where life thrives, from tiniest toughest bacteria to ...
Astrobiology
Jan 27, 2025
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Could ocean worlds support life?
There might be a type of exoplanet without dry land. They're called "Hycean" worlds, a portmanteau of "hydrogen" and "ocean." They're mostly or entirely covered in oceans and have thick hydrogen atmospheres.
Astrobiology
Jan 27, 2025
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Study provides insight into how some species thrive in dark, oxygen-free environments
Most life on Earth relies on the sun's energy for survival, but what about organisms in the deep sea that live beyond the reach of its rays? A new study led by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), published in The ...
Astrobiology
Jan 17, 2025
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More news

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Other news

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

Soft tissue of a plesiosaur reveals it had scales similar to those of sea turtles

Scientists produce first complete genome of a banana slug

Computational tool maps cell differentiation with precision and efficiency

Optimized nickel particles improve catalyst performance for hydrogenation reactions

China plans to retrieve Mars samples by 2031

Team links comet water to Earth's oceans
