Extrasolar Planets
Sub-Neptune Sized Planet Validated With The Habitable-zone Planet Finder 
A signal originally detected by the Kepler spacecraft has been validated as an exoplanet using the Habitable-zone Planet Finder (HPF), an astronomical spectrograph built by a Penn State team and recently installed on the 10m Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory in Texas.
Genomics and Cell Biology
Random Gene Pulsing Generates Patterns Of Life
A team of Cambridge scientists working on the intersection between biology and computation has found that random gene activity helps patterns form during development of a model multicellular system.
Habitable Zones & Global Climate
Solar-cycle Irradiance Variations Over The Last Four Billion years
The variability of the spectral solar irradiance (SSI) over the course of the 11-year solar cycle is one of the manifestations of solar magnetic activity. There is a strong evidence that the SSI variability has an effect on the Earth's atmosphere.
Meteorites, Asteroids, & Comets
Potassium Isotopic Compositions Of Enstatite Meteorites
Enstatite chondrites and aubrites are meteorites that show the closest similarities to the Earth in many isotope systems that undergo mass-independent and mass-dependent isotope fractionations.
Extrasolar Planets
Stabilization of Dayside Surface Liquid Water Via Tropopause Cold Trapping On Arid Slowly Rotating Tidally Locked Planets
Terrestrial-type exoplanets orbiting nearby red dwarf stars (M-dwarfs) are among the best targets for atmospheric characterization and biosignature searches in the near future.
SETI
Looking For Aliens Who Might Be Looking For Us
Data from a massive search for cosmic radio emission released Feb 14. by the Breakthrough Listen Initiative--the most comprehensive survey yet of radio emissions from the Milky Way--has allowed astronomers to look for technological signatures of extraterrestrial civilizations that might be looking for us.
Extrasolar Planets
Dynamics of Planetary Systems Within Star Clusters: Aspects of the Solar System's Early Evolution
Most planetary systems -- including our own -- are born within stellar clusters, where interactions with neighboring stars can help shape the system architecture.
Astrochemistry
A Method For Mapping The Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Content Of Interstellar Dust Towards The Galactic Centre
In the interstellar medium, the cosmic elemental carbon abundance includes the total carbon in both gas and solid phases.
Microbiology
Bacteria On The International Space Station Are No More Dangerous Than Earthbound Strains
Two particularly tenacious species of bacteria have colonized the potable water dispenser aboard the International Space Station (ISS), but a new study suggests that they are no more dangerous than closely related strains on Earth.
Origin & Evolution of Life
Rules Of Life: From A Pond To The Beyond
The Cuatro Cienegas Basin, located in Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, was once a shallow sea that became isolated from the Gulf of Mexico around 43 million years ago.
Climate
Earth Climate Models And The Search For Life On Other Planets
In a generic brick building on the northwestern edge of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center campus in Greenbelt, Maryland, thousands of computers packed in racks the size of vending machines hum in a deafening chorus of data crunching.
More top stories from February.
Recent Releases
Recent Status Reports
Calendar
- 28 Feb: NASA's Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium
- 2 Mar: Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference
- 3 Mar: NASA Advisory Council Human Explorations and Operations Committee Meeting
- 5 Mar: NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting
- 5 Mar: NASA Astrophysics Advisory Committee Meeting
- * Submit Your Event | More Events *
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