Last update:
Astrobiology news
Q&A: How to (theoretically) spot an alien
Are we alone in the universe? The answer to one of humanity's biggest questions is complicated by a basic reality: If there is life on other worlds, it may not look familiar. A sample of rocks from Mars or another planet ...
Astrobiology
Apr 10, 2025
1
43
The search for biosignatures in Enceladus' plumes
What kind of mission would be best suited to sample the plumes of Saturn's ocean world, Enceladus, to determine if this intriguing world has the ingredients to harbor life? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th ...
Astrobiology
Apr 9, 2025
0
28
An all-sky infrared camera named Dalek continues the search for alien technosignatures
In 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a report detailing recently-declassified information on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Since then, the Department of Defense has released ...
Astrobiology
Apr 9, 2025
0
1
Saturn's moon Titan could harbor life, but only a tiny amount, study finds
Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is a strange, alien world. Covered in rivers and lakes of liquid methane, icy boulders and dunes of soot-like "sand," its topography has long fascinated scientists and invited speculation on ...
Astrobiology
Apr 8, 2025
0
64
Want to know how to survive in space? Ask a tardigrade
The 2025 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, which took place from March 10–14 in The Woodlands, Texas, witnessed some very interesting proposals for space exploration and science. In addition to bold mission concepts, ...
Astrobiology
Apr 7, 2025
0
6
In the search for life on exoplanets, finding nothing is something too
What if humanity's search for life on other planets returns no hits? A team of researchers led by Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, a Physicist in Professor Sascha Quanz's Exoplanets and Habitability Group at ETH Zurich and a SETI ...
Astrobiology
Apr 7, 2025
0
85
Microscopy reveals signs of life in Earth's extremes, boosting search for alien life
New research from Portland State University focused on identifying signs of life—biosignatures—in extreme environments here on Earth. Researchers investigated whether microbial active motion (e.g., swimming), morphology, ...
Astrobiology
Apr 4, 2025
0
31
Unique bacteria that survive by employing multicellular behavior offer clues to life's evolution
In a recent study, researchers gained new insight into the lives of bacteria that survive by grouping together as if they were a multicellular organism. The organisms in the study are the only bacteria known to do this in ...
Astrobiology
Apr 2, 2025
0
93
Lunar polar regions could have microbes, modeling study suggests
Could microbes survive in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the moon? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2025) hopes to address as a team of researchers ...
Astrobiology
Apr 1, 2025
0
57
How can we find cryovolcanoes on Europa?
In the 1970s, NASA's Voyager probes passed through Jupiter's system and snapped pictures of its largest moons, also known as the Galilean moons. These pictures and the data they gathered offered the first hints that a global ...
Astrobiology
Apr 1, 2025
0
2
How to engineer microbes to enable us to live on Mars
A field known as synthetic biology has become one of the most highly anticipated in science. Its outputs range from golden rice, which is genetically engineered to provide vitamin A, to advances stemming from the Human Genome ...
Space Exploration
Apr 1, 2025
0
18
A step towards life on Mars? Lichens survive Martian simulation in new study
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that certain lichen species can survive Mars-like conditions, including exposure to ionizing radiation, while maintaining a metabolically active state.
Astrobiology
Apr 1, 2025
3
409
NASA's Curiosity rover has found the longest chain carbon molecules yet on Mars
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected the largest organic (carbon-containing) molecules ever found on the red planet. The discovery is one of the most significant findings in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. ...
Astrobiology
Mar 31, 2025
0
23
Could Venus host life? The Venus life equation can help us find out
What drives us to send probes throughout the solar system and rovers and landers to Mars? It's not cheap, and it's not easy. It's because we live inside a big, natural puzzle, and we want to understand it. That's one reason. ...
Astrobiology
Mar 28, 2025
0
12
Experiment shows theory describing formation of interstellar benzene does not actually produce benzene
Astrophysicists at the University of Colorado's JILA, National Institute of Science and Technology, have conducted an experiment to produce benzene the way theories have predicted it is produced in interstellar space and ...
One day we might seed the universe with life. But should we?
Suppose humanity was faced with an extinction-level event. Not just high odds, but certain-sure. A nearby supernova will explode and irradiate all life, a black hole will engulf the Earth, a Mars-sized interstellar asteroid ...
Astrobiology
Mar 27, 2025
0
61
Fluorescent caves could explain how life persists in extraterrestrial environments
Deep below Earth's surface, rock and mineral formations lay hidden with a secret brilliance. Under a black light, the chemicals fossilized within shine in brilliant hues of pink, blue and green. Scientists are using these ...
Astrobiology
Mar 25, 2025
0
55
Organic molecules of unprecedented size discovered on Mars
Scientists analyzing pulverized rock onboard NASA's Curiosity rover have found the largest organic compounds on the red planet to date. The finding, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, ...
Astrobiology
Mar 24, 2025
1
571
Using algorithms to help find life on icy ocean worlds
Scientists have long thought that our solar system's ocean worlds, such as Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus, may harbor extraterrestrial life in the form of microbes. But detecting it could be a challenge ...
Astrobiology
Mar 24, 2025
0
77
Extremely Large Telescope could sense hints of life at Proxima Centauri in just 10 hours, simulations suggest
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), currently under construction in northern Chile, will give us a better view of the Milky Way than any ground-based telescope before it. It's difficult to overstate how transformative it ...
Astronomy
Mar 21, 2025
0
267
More news
Signs of alien life may be hiding in these gases
How humans can reinvent themselves to live on other worlds
Other news
Researchers discover a new type of quantum entanglement
First atomic-level video of catalytic reaction reveals hidden pathways
Light that spirals like a nautilus shell
Researchers identify simple rules for folding the genome
Deeper understanding of plant cell transformation could pave way for controlling fruit growth
O'ahu's shores could see heavy erosion by 2030, study finds
Ancient beaches testify to long-ago ocean on Mars
Sulfur may be a new tool for finding alien life
'Internet of nature' helps researchers explore the web of life
