https://phys.org/space-news/astrobiology en-us Astrobiology news stories about origin and evolution of life in the Universe The small footprint and dim light of white dwarfs, remnants of stars that have burned through their fuel, may make excellent backdrops for studying planets with enough water to harbor life. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-watery-planets-orbiting-dead-stars.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Jun 2024 16:46:04 EDT news637515961 Cornell University researchers have provided a simple and comprehensive—if less dramatic—explanation for bright radar reflections initially interpreted as liquid water beneath the ice cap on Mars' south pole. https://phys.org/news/2024-06-lake-mars-ice-cap.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 07 Jun 2024 14:00:01 EDT news636974701 Important nutrients for the first living organisms on Earth may have come from space, according to new research from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-sulfur-molecules-space-seeded-early.html Astrobiology Thu, 30 May 2024 08:51:03 EDT news636277861 There are three ways to look for evidence of alien technological civilizations. One is to look out for deliberate attempts by them to communicate their existence, for example, through radio broadcasts. Another is to look for evidence of them visiting the solar system. And a third option is to look for signs of large-scale engineering projects in space. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-dyson-spheres-astronomers-potential-candidates.html Astronomy Astrobiology Sat, 25 May 2024 14:40:01 EDT news635693874 While thousands of planets have been discovered around other stars, relatively little is known about them. A NASA catalog featuring 126 exotic, newly discovered worlds includes detailed measurements that allow for comparisons with our own solar system. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-international-planet-hunters-unveil-massive.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 23 May 2024 14:37:09 EDT news635693824 The discovery of a planet similar to Venus around a star in the neighborhood of the solar system raises hopes that astronomers may someday unlock the secret to why life appeared on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-earth-evil-twin-discovery-sized.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 23 May 2024 14:36:41 EDT news635693796 Ever since the tantalizing discovery of icy ocean worlds within our own solar system, such as Europa and Enceladus, scientists have been captivated by the possibility of life lurking beneath their frozen surfaces. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-exploring-depths-iron-secrets-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 21 May 2024 11:40:03 EDT news635510402 Why is the warm gas-giant exoplanet WASP-107 b so puffy? Two independent teams of researchers have an answer. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-webb-case-inflated-exoplanet.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 20 May 2024 13:24:39 EDT news635430276 People might assume the search for life on Mars ended when NASA's first rovers sent back images of the planet's barren, inhospitable surface. However, as scientists broaden their understanding of the extreme conditions in which life can flourish here on Earth—and expand their notions of what extraterrestrial life might look like—the search for life on Mars continues. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-exploring-extremes-life-mars.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 20 May 2024 11:18:02 EDT news635422681 A team led by University of Maryland chemists discovered a new way to create carbenes, a class of highly reactive yet notoriously short-lived and unstable molecules. Involved in many high-energy chemical reactions such as the creation of carbohydrates, carbenes are crucial precursors to the building blocks of life on Earth—and possibly in space. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-key-ingredient-life-space.html Astrobiology Thu, 16 May 2024 09:56:03 EDT news635072161 Knowledge about the early forms of life in the universe that may have led to the development of life on Earth remains largely unknown. However, a group of scientists at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa are attempting to change that. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-unravel-life-cosmic.html Astrobiology Mon, 13 May 2024 16:50:31 EDT news634837827 In 2018, very large organic molecules were discovered in ice particles on Saturn's moon Enceladus. It is still unclear whether they indicate the existence of life or were created in some other way. A recent study could help to answer this question. It is possible, that conditions that support or maintain life in extraterrestrial oceans could leave molecular traces in grains of ice. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-discovery-biomarkers-space-conditions-saturn.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 13 May 2024 12:06:40 EDT news634820794 Although Mars presents a barren, dusty landscape with no signs of life so far, its geological features such as deltas, lakebeds, and river valleys strongly suggest a past where water once flowed abundantly on its surface. To explore this possibility, scientists examine sediments preserved near these formations. The composition of these sediments holds clues about the early environmental conditions, the processes that shaped the planet over time, and even potential signs of past life. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-martian-sediments.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 13 May 2024 11:19:04 EDT news634817942 Artificial intelligence (AI) has progressed at an astounding pace over the last few years. Some scientists are now looking towards the development of artificial superintelligence (ASI)—a form of AI that would not only surpass human intelligence but would not be bound by the learning speeds of humans. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-ai-blame-failure-contact-alien.html Astrobiology Sat, 11 May 2024 11:50:01 EDT news634473726 Does life exist beyond Earth? One of the most compelling places to consider this possibility is Enceladus, a moon of Saturn with a liquid water ocean encased in a frozen shell. There, plumes of water spray from ice fractures into space, and spacecraft observations of these geysers suggest that Enceladus has all the chemical building blocks necessary for life. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-life-enceladus.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 09 May 2024 13:44:33 EDT news634481067 In the quest for life beyond our solar system, a new study delves into the atmospheric dynamics of planet Proxima Centauri b, illuminating ozone's pivotal role in shaping planetary climates. This research signifies a significant leap forward in our understanding of habitable exoplanets. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-delves-ozone-exoplanetary-climate.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 08 May 2024 11:08:45 EDT news634385322 Recent reports of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finding signs of life on a distant planet understandably sparked excitement. A new study challenges this finding, but also outlines how the telescope might verify the presence of the life-produced gas. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-webb-telescope-didnt-life-exoplanet.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 02 May 2024 11:00:01 EDT news633862922 A research team using the ChemCam instrument onboard NASA's Curiosity rover discovered higher-than-usual amounts of manganese in lakebed rocks within Gale Crater on Mars, which indicates that the sediments were formed in a river, delta, or near the shoreline of an ancient lake. The results were published today in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. https://phys.org/news/2024-05-earth-environment-ancient-mars.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 01 May 2024 10:28:03 EDT news633778080 Over the course of its elliptical orbit, the moon Enceladus is squeezed unevenly by Saturn's gravitational pull and deforms from a spherical shape into a football shape and back again. This cyclic stress causes a phenomenon called "tidal heating" within Enceladus and dissipates enough energy to maintain what is believed to be a global ocean underneath the moon's icy crust. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-enceladus-guts-strikeslip-motion.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:16:12 EDT news633694568 The most surprising revelation from NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover—that methane is seeping from the surface of Gale Crater—has scientists scratching their heads. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-methane-seeping-mars-nasa-scientists.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:17:04 EDT news633017821 Despite surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, lava-spewing volcanoes, and puffy clouds of sulfuric acid, uninhabitable Venus offers vital lessons about the potential for life on other planets, a new paper argues. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-deadly-venus-life-universe-paper.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 22 Apr 2024 11:31:03 EDT news633004261 The origin of life on Earth is still enigmatic, but we are slowly unraveling the steps involved and the necessary ingredients. Scientists believe life arose in a primordial soup of organic chemicals and biomolecules on the early Earth, eventually leading to actual organisms. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-crucial-blocks-life-earth-easily.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Sun, 21 Apr 2024 13:20:01 EDT news632664666 Finding water on distant planets and moons in our solar system is a challenge, especially when the instrument is thousands of kilometers away from the surface, but scientists presenting at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly describe how ground-penetrating radar is used to discover bodies of water below the surface of distant planets and they are on their way to Jupiter. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-unraveling-mysteries-earth-ground-penetrating.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 19 Apr 2024 04:50:01 EDT news632664243 A research team led by Dr. Serge Krasnokutski from the Astrophysics Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the University of Jena had already demonstrated that simple peptides can form on cosmic dust particles. However, it was previously assumed that this would not be possible if molecular ice, which covers the dust particle, contains water—which is usually the case. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-peptides-interstellar-ice-presence-molecules.html Astrobiology Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:50:03 EDT news632584201 From house plants and gardens to fields and forests, green is the color we most associate with surface life on Earth, where conditions favored the evolution of organisms that perform oxygen-producing photosynthesis using the green pigment chlorophyll a. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-alien-life-purple-green.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 Apr 2024 10:31:04 EDT news632482261 Research has uncovered important new insights into the evolution of oxygen, carbon, and other vital elements over the entire history of Earth—and it could help assess which other planets can develop life, ranging from plants to animals and humans. https://phys.org/news/2024-04-earth-global-carbon-liveability-planets.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 10 Apr 2024 05:00:02 EDT news631892581 Could it be that human existence depends on gravitational waves? Some key elements in our biological makeup may come from astrophysical events that occur because gravitational waves exist, a research team headed by John R. Ellis of Kings College London suggests. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-gravitational-human-life.html Astronomy Astrobiology Fri, 29 Mar 2024 09:31:00 EDT news630923454 A study from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) which combines laboratory chemistry with astrophysics, has shown for the first time that grains of dust formed by carbon and hydrogen in a highly disordered state, known as HAC, can take part in the formation of fullerenes, carbon molecules which are of key importance for the development of life in the universe, and with potential applications in nanotechnology. The results are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-mystery-fullerenes-space.html Astronomy Astrobiology Wed, 27 Mar 2024 13:17:05 EDT news630764221 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 Universität Berlin shows that individual ice grains ejected from these planetary bodies may contain enough material for instruments headed there in the fall to detect signs of life, if such life exists. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-life-ice-grain-emitted-extraterrestrial.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Fri, 22 Mar 2024 14:00:02 EDT news630314941 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, hosts milder temperatures that could support some extreme forms of life. https://phys.org/news/2024-03-life-blocks-stable-venus-conditions.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 20 Mar 2024 11:08:04 EDT news630151681