When imagining the deep sea, we often think of a cold, dark and empty wasteland, sparsely populated by monstrous-looking creatures of the deep. But in fissures along the seabed, ocean water superheated by the Earth's magma ...
Ecology
Jan 24, 2023
0
25
Surrounded by a vast ocean underneath a thick ice shell, Enceladus is a hot candidate for potentially harboring alien life. A team of researchers led by the University of Arizona concluded that a future mission could provide ...
Astrobiology
Dec 21, 2022
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574
When scientists discovered a hydrothermal vent site in the Arctic Ocean's Aurora hydrothermal system in 2014, they did not immediately realize just how exciting their discovery was.
Earth Sciences
Nov 2, 2022
0
486
NASA has recently announced US$600,000 (£495,000) in funding for a study into the feasibility of sending swarms of miniature swimming robots (known as independent micro-swimmers) to explore oceans beneath the icy shells ...
Space Exploration
Jul 5, 2022
0
228
Earth's oceans play a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle. As seawater moves and mixes, it stores and transports huge amounts of carbon in the form of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon molecules. However, the various ...
Earth Sciences
Jul 7, 2021
0
12
Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) modeled chemical processes in the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The studies indicate the possibility that a varied ...
Space Exploration
Dec 16, 2020
2
516
The Earth's biosphere contains all the known ingredients necessary for life as we know it. Broadly speaking these are: liquid water, at least one source of energy, and an inventory of biologically useful elements and molecules.
Space Exploration
Sep 18, 2020
10
379
Despite an extreme environment characterized by high pressure, high temperature, strong acidity and low oxygen levels resembling living conditions in prehistoric times, hydrothermal vents harbor a diverse population of creatures, ...
Biotechnology
Apr 29, 2020
1
433
Where did life first form on Earth? Some scientists think it could have been around hydrothermal vents that may have existed at the bottom of the ocean 4.5 billion years ago. In a new paper in the journal Astrobiology, scientists ...
Astrobiology
Apr 16, 2020
2
94
For years, researchers looking at seafloor sediments would find bits of black carbon along with organic carbon strewn across the ocean floor, but they couldn't say exactly where it originated. The challenge with studying ...
Earth Sciences
Dec 4, 2019
0
119
