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.
life as we know it
Posted inResearch Spotlights
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.
Posted inNews
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.
Posted inNews
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.
Posted inFeatures
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?
Posted inScience Updates
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.
Posted inNews
A New Explanation for Organics on a Mars Rock That Fell to Earth
Organic molecules on a Martian meteorite have fueled nearly 30 years of scientific debate. New evidence suggests they were formed by Martian processes, offering more support for a once habitable environment on the Red Planet.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Scientists Turn Back Time to Track Methane Emissions on Mars
Period spikes of methane on Mars could originate inside Gale crater, where NASA’s Curiosity rover is currently exploring.s
Posted inNews
Oldest Pole Reversal Shows Early Earth Was Well Suited for Life
Australian rocks 3.25 billion years old preserved the oldest signs of Earth’s stable magnetic field and quickly moving crust, critical elements of life’s evolution.