New analysis indicates that planetary feedbacks alone don’t make habitability an inevitability.
life as we know it
Posted inNews
Very Good Space Boys: Robotic Dogs May Dig Into Martian Caves
Four-legged, autonomous robots known as “Mars Dogs” will explore previously inaccessible caves to look for signs of life and potential locations for future human colonies.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Cosmic Timeline of Heliophysics
Thom Moore began his career after the start of the space age. This is the story of how he converted his interests in evolution, philosophy, and psychology and writing into the study of heliophysics.
Posted inScience Updates
Habitability and the Evolution of Life Under Our Magnetic Shield
Earth’s global magnetic field likely dates back billions of years and is a barrier against cosmic radiation. What roles has it played in the planet’s biosphere?
Posted inNews
An Ice Probe on Earth Could Help Us Find Life in Space
An instrument called WATSON can help find biosignatures on icy ocean worlds.
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Exoplanet Earth: An Ultimate Selfie to Find Habitable Worlds
Aliens spying on us from afar is a common science fiction trope. Soon we might know what E.T. would see through a telescope. And that information could help identify other Earth-like planets.
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¿Podría la Vida Estar Flotando en las Nubes de Venus?
Si están presentes, los microbios podrían explicar patrones de evolución en la atmósfera planetaria de Venus, al observarse con luz ultravioleta.
Posted inScience Updates
Life Teems Below the Surface
Scientists are resolving how plants, microbes, and lithology sculpt the structure of the critical zone.
Posted inFeatures
Critical Zone Science Comes of Age
The developing field, which unites Earth scientists to examine the planet’s surface as a single, unified entity, is unraveling the complex, interconnected processes that support life on Earth.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Curiosity Solves the Mystery of Gale Crater’s Hematite Ridge
A new special issue of JGR: Planets details the water-rich history of a distinctive geomorphic feature on Mars dubbed Vera Rubin ridge, as investigated by the Curiosity rover.