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Astrobiology news
We should find extraterrestrial life within 60 light-years if Earth is average, professor claims
In 1960, while preparing for the first meeting on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), legendary astronomer and SETI pioneer Dr. Frank Drake unveiled his probabilistic equation for estimating the number of ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2023
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Is it life, or is it volcanoes?
Astronomers are working hard to understand biosignatures and how they indicate life's presence on an exoplanet. But each planet we encounter is a unique puzzle. When it comes to planetary atmospheres, carbon is a big piece ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2023
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Biotechnospheres as part of planetary intelligence and the search for extraterrestrial civilizations
To safeguard Earth's biosphere, scientists have turned toward Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the hope that it may help to protect biodiversity. Yet this hope has been challenged by AI's appetite for water and energy rooted ...
From seafloor to space: New bacterial proteins shine light on climate and astrobiology
Gigatons of greenhouse gas are trapped under the seafloor, and that's a good thing. Around the coasts of the continents, where slopes sink down into the sea, tiny cages of ice trap methane gas, preventing it from escaping ...
Astrobiology
Sep 26, 2023
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Why build megastructures? Just move planets around to make habitable worlds
In 1960, Freeman Dyson proposed how advanced civilizations could create megastructures that enclosed their system, allowing them to harness all of their star's energy and multiplying the habitable space they could occupy. ...
Astrobiology
Sep 26, 2023
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Did life exist on Mars? Other planets? With AI's help, we may know soon
Scientists have discovered a simple and reliable test for signs of past or present life on other planets—"the holy grail of astrobiology."
Astrobiology
Sep 25, 2023
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Turning up gravity for space fungi study
Fungi in space have been a plot point in Star Trek: Discovery, but they are also a very real problem for astronauts and space stations. United Nations co-sponsored testing by a team from Macau in China subjected fungi to ...
Space Exploration
Sep 25, 2023
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How microbes could aid the search for extraterrestrial life
In the quest to address fundamental questions about the nature of the universe and the search for extraterrestrial life, space has been an important frontier for human exploration. Microbes, among the earliest forms of life ...
Astrobiology
Sep 25, 2023
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Scientists discover a new way to test for life on Mars
Space scientists have discovered a new process to test for life on Mars and on Earth, using cutting-edge technology to sequence DNA using the tiniest possible sample of DNA mass.
Astrobiology
Sep 25, 2023
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First contact could turn out well for humanity
You've heard this story before. An advanced alien race comes to Earth. They offer peace and prosperity, but they hold a dark secret. One that could destroy humanity. That dark secret has varied over the years, from stealing ...
Astrobiology
Sep 21, 2023
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We should be looking for small, hot Dyson spheres, new paper argues
In 1960, legendary physicist Freeman Dyson published his seminal paper "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation," wherein he proposed that there could be extraterrestrial civilizations so advanced that ...
Astronomy
Sep 21, 2023
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Mars region offers NASA rover environment to search for evidence of ancient microbial life
Purdue University scientist Briony Horgan is leading NASA's Mars rover into unfamiliar territory as the mission turns toward its next opportunity to find ancient signs of life on the red planet.
Astrobiology
Sep 20, 2023
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New Mars gravity analysis improves understanding of possible ancient ocean
The first use of a novel method of analyzing Mars' gravitational force supports the idea that the planet once had an extensive northern ocean.
Astrobiology
Sep 20, 2023
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New recipes for origin of life may point way to distant, inhabited planets
Life on a faraway planet—if it's out there—might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe's pantry, and only so many ways to mix them. A team led by scientists ...
Astrobiology
Sep 19, 2023
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Discovering the universe from our own backyards
When I was a college student, I worked at the Charlevoix Astronomical Observatory in Québec.
Astrobiology
Sep 19, 2023
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If astronomers see these chemicals in a planet's atmosphere, there's likely an advanced civilization there
In an age of ever-growing numbers of exoplanets circling other stars, it's natural that astronomers search for signatures of advanced civilizations. Such signatures may have biological or technological origins.
Astrobiology
Sep 18, 2023
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Q&A: Decadal survey sets agenda for biological, physical sciences in space
The National Academies' latest decadal survey, "Thriving in Space," released Sept. 12, provides a roadmap for biological and physical sciences research, from the low orbit of Earth to the surface of Mars, through 2033.
Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2023
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Why 'UFOs' should be tracked in the water as well as the skies
A much anticipated NASA report on UFOs calls for better tracking and scientific understanding of unexplained phenomena that captivate the public and have raised concerns about military security.
Astrobiology
Sep 18, 2023
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Possible hints of life found on distant planet. How excited should we be?
Data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has shown that an exoplanet around a star in the constellation Leo has some of the chemical markers that, on Earth, are associated with living organisms. But these are vague ...
Astrobiology
Sep 16, 2023
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Could we find aliens terraforming other worlds?
The first early humans to use fire had no inkling of what it would lead to.
Astrobiology
Sep 14, 2023
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Other news
NASA's Perseverance captures dust-filled Martian whirlwind
India space chief unfazed by Moon mission's apparent end
Did animal evolution begin with a predatory lifestyle?
A new highly precise measurement of the hypertriton lifetime
Ultrafast quantum simulation of large-scale quantum entanglement
Physicists coax superconductivity and more from quasicrystals
Researchers model and test ground conditions on the moon
Self-healing of synthetic diamonds observed at room temperature
Using a cutting enzyme and an RNA repair enzyme to modify RNA virus genomes
New model describes synchronized cilia movement driven by border regions
Protein may hold key to preventing a tick-borne disease
