The discovery of tiny crystals of the iron-rich hydroxychloride kuliginite in New Caledonia provides new insights into the hydrogen production from mantle rocks and saline water.
life as we know it
Early Life Learned to Love Oxygen Long Before It Was Cool
Laboratory experiments show that earthquakes may have helped early life evolve in an oxygen-free world.
Moon’s Porosity Changes Cratering History, Study Says
Gravity field measurements from decade-old lunar orbiter provide a proxy for counting craters.
Krypton Isotopes Provide New Clues to Planets’ Pasts
To trace how crucial ingredients for life arrived at Earth, scientists track noble gases. Now, improved methods are drawing new clues from krypton, the most cryptic of noble gases.
Lightning Had Difficulty Forming in Early Earth’s Atmosphere
Lightning could have sparked the beginnings of life, but the primordial atmosphere might have made it more difficult for lightning to initiate.
Martian Meteorites Reveal Evidence of a Large Impact
By analyzing rare Martian meteorites, researchers have uncovered a crystalline structure created by a large asteroid or comet impact that potentially affected the Red Planet’s habitability.
Lipids from Europa’s Ocean Could Be Detectable on the Surface
A super salty spring in the Canadian Arctic provides insights key to detecting life on a distant ocean world.
Tidally Locked and Loaded with Questions
Tidally locked planets always present the same face to their host stars. What does this mean for their potential to support life?
Rethinking the Search for the Origins of Life
Early Earth conditions and the chemistry that led to life were inextricably interwoven. Earth scientists and prebiotic chemists are working together in new ways to understand how life first emerged.