Lab experiments constrain conditions necessary for a key mineral to have formed in ancient lagoons and a crater lake.
life as we know it
In Search of Life Under the Seafloor
A multinational research team drilled into the seafloor to see whether chemical processes in exposed shallow mantle rocks could generate nutrients to support life in the subsurface.
Could Life Be Floating in Venus’s Clouds?
If present, microbes could explain evolving patterns in the planet’s atmosphere when observed in ultraviolet light.
Brine Pools Emerge as a New Place to Search for Life on Mars
Some pools of salty water on the Red Planet could contain enough dissolved oxygen for microorganisms and sponges to survive, new calculations suggest.
Huge Blades of Ice May Partially Cover Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Conditions are right for “penitentes” up to 15 meters high to form on the Jovian moon, new research shows. The spires might prevent a lander from exploring Europa’s equatorial region.
How Well Can the Webb Telescope Detect Signs of Exoplanet Life?
Recent research suggests that NASA’s next-generation space telescope will be good—but not the best—at finding life-sustaining levels of oxygen in an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
How Did Life Learn to Breathe?
Scientists unravel the conditions under which life evolved to breathe oxygen—and the findings have some stellar implications.
Life and Death in the Deepest Depths of the Seafloor
Lacking light and energy, under-seafloor microbes rely on ancient organic materials to survive.
Scientists Discover an Environment on the Cusp of Habitability
A volcanically heated Costa Rican lake hosts only one type of organism, suggesting that its Mars-like environment is just barely capable of supporting life.
Cobalt Key to Development of Early Life on Earth
Cobalt may have played in important role in the early development of life on Earth, and been more available to ancient life than modern due to the higher mafic composition of early continents.