[PNAS]. Kerogen, insoluble organic matter preserved in sediments, represents some of the earliest known terrestrial biosignatures which have provided important insights into the origin of life and planetary habitability.
Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
RNA Droplets May Have Helped Start life on Earth
[University at Buffalo] It’s one of the origins of life’s chicken-or-the-egg problems: How could RNA have helped give rise to the first cells before there were cells to contain them?
![Effects of physicochemical stressors on the main categories of cellular macromolecules (see Table 1 for further details; figure uses images from Servier Medical Art). Multiple stressors can induce the same primary effect, therefore adaptations in response to a natural selection pressure for one stressor may render the same organism resistant to all stressors producing the same type of damage. White stars indicate chemical processes that are aggravated in the presence of oxygen due to altered system chemistry, meaning that in anoxic environments such effects are reduced or negligible. -- [FEMS Microbes]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Extremophiles-Life-resists.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Extremophiles: Life Resists Chemistry Not Conditions
[FEMS Microbes] Extremophiles are used to study both the limits of life and its potential elsewhere. Categories are commonly employed to describe extreme conditions, however, changing the focus to the […]
Posted inAstrochemistry
Catalytic Formation of H2 On Carbonaceous Dust Grains – Implications For Interstellar Observations
[astro-ph.GA] We use kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations to study molecular hydrogen formation on carbonaceous dust grain surfaces, validated against recent laboratory measurements of H2 formation on coronene films at […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
The Viability of Life in Helium-Dominated Exoplanet Atmospheres
[astro-ph.EP] Helium is the second most abundant element in the Universe, yet helium-dominated atmospheres are rarely considered as environments for life.
![Photographs of the mineral and inorganic substrates used in this study and the corresponding hybrid materials obtained. -- [Nature]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Synthesis.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Synthesis Of Mineral-organic Hybrid Materials Under Dynamic Prebiotic Conditions
[Nature] The increasing of molecular complexity must be understood as a planetary phenomenon where prebiotic chemistry and geological settings converge. In this scene, HCN chemistry may have played a crucial […]
![The top panel shows comparisons of the observed spectrum of JADES-GS-BD-11 (black with grey 1σ error bars) and the median retrieved spectrum for both the PH3 and non-PH3 petitRADTRANS (red and green, respectively, with 1σ central credible intervals shaded around the median). The bottom panel shows the difference between the retrieved and observed spectra, divided by the observed uncertainty. The two retrieved median spectra are generally within 1σ of each other everywhere except at 4.3 µm (the Q-branch of the PH3 feature).-- [astro-ph.SR]](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/JWSTNIRSpec.png?resize=1200%2C717&ssl=1)
Posted inBrown Dwarfs
JWST/NIRSpec Spectra for Three Ultracool Brown Dwarfs Detected in Extragalactic Surveys: Further Evidence for Phosphine Absorption
[astro-ph.SR] We present JWST NIRSpec prism spectra for three ultracool brown dwarfs discovered in extragalactic survey data, two from the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES), and one from Public […]
Posted inMars
Zhurong Mars Rover Observations Primary Evaporite In Southern Utopia Planitia
[Nature] The Zhurong rover has identified a layer consisting of platy rocks enriched in hydrous minerals on a ~0.76-Ga surface in southern Utopia Planitia, indicating unexpected recent aqueous activity on […]
Posted inComets and Asteroids
An Enriched Methane D/H Ratio in the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS
[astro-ph.EP]. Interstellar objects are interlopers from other planetary systems, and their volatile compositions provide a glimpse into planet formation around their host star.
Posted inAstrochemistry
The Galactic Centre G+0.633-0.0604 Molecular Cloud: A New Gold Mine for Astrochemistry
[astro-ph.GA] Astrochemistry is living a golden age, with more than a quarter of the ~350 molecules in the current interstellar census having been detected over the last three years. One […]