The ice-encrusted oceans of some of the moons orbiting Saturn and Jupiter are leading candidates in the search for extraterrestrial life. A new lab-based study led by the University of Washington in Seattle and the Freie ...
Astrobiology
Mar 22, 2024
1
2420
If there is life in the solar system beyond Earth, it might be found in the clouds of Venus. In contrast to the planet's blisteringly inhospitable surface, Venus' cloud layer, which extends from 30 to 40 miles above the surface, ...
Astrobiology
Mar 20, 2024
1
204
Oceanic responses to climate and human interactions have been studied for decades. In recent years the effects of increasing ocean acidity have been featured, with stark images of coral reefs being decimated by bleaching.
Researchers have analyzed samples of the asteroid Ryugu collected by the Japanese Space Agency's Hayabusa2 spacecraft and found uracil, one of the informational units that make up RNA, the molecules that contain the instructions ...
Astrobiology
Mar 21, 2023
2
410
Asteroid Ryugu has a rich complement of organic molecules, according to a NASA and international team's initial analysis of a sample from the asteroid's surface delivered to Earth by Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft. The discovery ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 23, 2023
1
633
A new study led by Southwest Research Institute Research Scientist Dr. Danna Qasim posits that interstellar cloud conditions may have played a significant role on the presence of key building blocks of life in the solar system.
Astrobiology
Jan 11, 2023
3
140
According to a new NASA laboratory experiment, rovers may have to dig about 6.6 feet (two meters) or more under the Martian surface to find signs of ancient life because ionizing radiation from space degrades small molecules ...
Astrobiology
Jun 27, 2022
5
262
In the strange, dark world of the ocean floor, underwater fissures, called hydrothermal vents, host complex communities of life. These vents belch scorching hot fluids into extremely cold seawater, creating the chemical forces ...
Astrobiology
Nov 23, 2021
5
1379
An international team of scientists have shown that glycine, the simplest amino acid and an important building block of life, can form under the harsh conditions that govern chemistry in space.
Astronomy
Nov 16, 2020
0
1554
In Northern Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on Earth, microorganisms are able to eke out an existence by extracting water from the very rocks they colonize.
Plants & Animals
May 4, 2020
1
292
