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Galactic islands of tranquility: 'Little red dots' may have brewed life's building blocks

Astrobiology news

'Ionic liquids' could redefine the habitable zone

"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 ...

Astrobiology

Mar 12, 2026

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How do we know what asteroids are made out of?

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 ...

Astrobiology

Mar 9, 2026

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Introducing the Interplanetary Habitable Zone

Anyone familiar with the search for alien life will have heard of the "Goldilocks Zone" around a star. This is defined as the orbital band where the temperature is just right for liquid water to pool on a rocky planet's surface—a ...

Astrobiology

Mar 5, 2026

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Scientists successfully harvest chickpeas from 'moon dirt'

As the U.S. plans to return to the moon with the upcoming Artemis II mission, a question endures: What will future lunar explorers eat? According to new research from The University of Texas at Austin, the answer might be ...

Astrobiology

Mar 5, 2026

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Life forms can planet hop on asteroid debris—and survive

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain hardy bacterium easily ...

Astrobiology

Mar 3, 2026

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How long do civilizations last?

It is one of the most famous questions in science, and it was asked, as legend has it, over lunch. Enrico Fermi, the physicist who helped build the first nuclear reactor and whose name graces a unit of length so small it ...

Astrobiology

Mar 2, 2026

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Would Earth still be habitable without us?

Here's a thought experiment that keeps planetary scientists awake at night. Strip every living thing from our planet, every bacterium, every blade of grass, every creature that has ever drawn breath and ask a simple but profound ...

Astrobiology

Mar 2, 2026

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Could Mars soil block Earth microbes? 'Water bears' offer a clue

Tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, may be better suited by a new name: Tardiguardians of the Galaxy. Unlike the fictional ragtag team of unenthusiastic heroes, the microscopic animals are providing real insight into ...

Astrobiology

Feb 27, 2026

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How long could Earth microbes live on Mars?

Searching for past or present life on Mars is the sole driving force behind every mission we send to the red planet, from orbiters to landers to rovers. However, there remains a concern in the scientific community about Earth-based ...

Astrobiology

Feb 25, 2026

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Astrobiology
Jupiter's Galilean moons may have gained life's building blocks at birth
Astrobiology
The optical engineering required to photograph an Earth twin
Astrobiology
Exomoons could reveal themselves through lunar eclipses
Space Exploration
A low-cost microscope to study living cells in zero gravity
Astronomy
If alien signals have already reached Earth, why haven't we seen them?
Astrobiology
What cold-water geysers on Earth reveal about the habitability of ocean worlds
Astrobiology
Early Mars was warm and wet not icy, suggests latest research
Space Exploration
Space mining without heavy machines? Microbes harvest metals from meteorites aboard space station
Astrobiology
Can life begin on a moon without a sun?
Astrobiology
Non-biologic processes don't fully explain Mars organics collected by Curiosity, researchers say
Astrobiology
Building blocks of life discovered in Bennu asteroid rewrite origin story
Astrobiology
Why only a small number of planets are suitable for life
Astrobiology
Looking for advanced aliens? Search for exoplanets with large coal deposits
Astronomy
JWST uncovers rich organic chemistry in a nearby ultra-luminous infrared galaxy
Astrobiology
Neutron scans reveal hidden water in famous martian meteorite
Space Exploration
Reproduction in space, an environment hostile to human biology
Astronomy
A student made cosmic dust in her lab—what she found could help us understand how life started on Earth
Astrobiology
Cracks on Europa sport traces of ammonia
Astrobiology
How brick-building bacteria react to toxic chemical in Martian soil
Astrobiology
A possible ice-cold Earth discovered in the archives of the retired Kepler Space Telescope

Other news

Biochemistry
Not one ring but many: Antioxidant enzyme family can assemble in far more diverse ways than previously thought
Biochemistry
Deep-sea natural compound targets cancer cells through a dual mechanism
Astronomy
Dry ice detected in a planetary nebula for the first time
Earth Sciences
Eaton fire sent a pollution wave across Los Angeles, study shows
Biotechnology
Enhanced fluorescence technique illuminates rapid, coordinated protein folding
Cell & Microbiology
Cell death in photoreceptor cells is reversible, study finds
Other
Saturday Citations: Neurology of boring sounds; one huge croc; Travels With Sol
Ecology
Study documents record 118-kilometer dispersal by young female fisher in New Hampshire
Molecular & Computational biology
Bacteria that generate electricity: How a shellfish-based gel could monitor wastewater and food
Mathematics
Pi Day: From rockets to cancer research, here's how the number pi is embedded in our lives
Ecology
New Panama tree species identified after 25 years is already endangered
Astronomy
A 100-solar-mass black hole merger ripples spacetime, and may flash in gamma rays
Environment
Improperly disposed wet wipes could shed microplastics in rivers
Ecology
In a South Carolina swamp, researchers uncover secrets of firefly synchrony
Condensed Matter
Researchers realize room-temperature two-dimensional multiferroic metal
Ecology
New DNA tools outperform traditional methods for detecting genetic risk in wildlife
Analytical Chemistry
From guesswork to guidance: How machine learning speeds dopant design for water-splitting photocatalysts
Evolution
How an unlikely all-female clonal fish species copied and pasted itself free from extinction
Optics & Photonics
Quantum dots generate entangled photon pairs on demand
Quantum Physics
Quantum computers must overcome major technical hurdles before tackling quantum chemistry problems
Astronomy
From stellar engines to Dyson bubbles, alien megastructures could hold themselves together under the right conditions
Astrobiology
NASA's Juno measures thickness of Europa's ice shell
Astrobiology
Ancient Martian beach discovered, providing new clues to red planet's habitability
Astronomy
High-resolution map shows dark matter's gravity pulled normal matter into galaxies
Space Exploration
Microgravity rewires microbial metabolism, limiting space-based manufacturing efficiency
Astrobiology
A new study of lunar rocks suggests Earth's water might not have come from meteorites
Astronomy
Astrophysicists discover largest sulfur-containing molecular compound in space
Astrobiology
Rethinking where life could exist beyond Earth
Astrobiology
Resurrected ancient enzyme offers new window into early Earth and the search for life beyond it
Astrobiology
Q&A: How AI changes NASA's search for life in outer space
Plants & Animals
Can plants count? Study suggests they can track the number of events they experience
Evolution
Huge dinosaur bone may reveal the origins of T. rex
Analytical Chemistry
Scientists confirm existence of molecule long believed to occur in oxidation
Plants & Animals
Bright pink insect stands out to blend in, scientists say
Paleontology & Fossils
The fish were biting in ancient Alabama: Tooth found embedded in Cretaceous apex predator's neck
Biotechnology
Bacterial strain breaks decades-old bottleneck in chemotherapy drug manufacturing
Cell & Microbiology
Real-time protein quality control keeps cells healthy
Bio & Medicine
Ultrasound-based approach to delivering potent drugs into cancer cells shows promise in benchtop experiments
Cell & Microbiology
How flexible protein regions retain their function via motifs and chemical context
General Physics
Physicists observe rare nuclear isomer in ytterbium-150 for first time

Stardust study resets how life's atoms spread through space

Starlight and stardust are not enough to drive the powerful winds of giant stars, transporting the building blocks of life through our galaxy. That's the conclusion of a new study from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, ...

Astrobiology

Dec 22, 2025

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Could advanced civilizations communicate like fireflies

Long before scientists discovered that other stars in the universe host their own planetary systems, humanity had contemplated the existence of life beyond Earth. As our technology matured and we began monitoring the night ...

Astrobiology

Dec 19, 2025

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Life on lava: How microbes colonize new habitats

Life has a way of bouncing back, even after catastrophic events like forest fires or volcanic eruptions. While nature's resilience to natural disasters has long been recognized, not much is known about how organisms colonize ...

Astrobiology

Dec 18, 2025

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The first alien civilization we encounter will be extremely loud

For decades, science fiction writers have tried their best to prepare us for eventual contact with aliens. Their efforts are dominated by several recurrent tropes. There's the invasion by a warlike species, there's the highly-evolved ...

Astrobiology

Dec 17, 2025

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Why most exoplanets are magma worlds

In astronomy, there is a concept called "degeneracy." It has nothing to do with delinquent people, but instead is used to describe data that could be interpreted multiple ways. In some cases, that interpretation is translated ...

Astrobiology

Dec 17, 2025

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Saturn's biggest moon might not have an ocean after all

Careful reanalysis of data from more than a decade ago indicates that Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, does not have a vast ocean beneath its icy surface, as suggested previously. Instead, a journey below the frozen exterior ...

Astrobiology

Dec 17, 2025

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