Gaia - Planetary Perspectives Archives - Page 20 of 36

a Regional setting of the Zimbabwe craton. b Simplified geological map showing the Archaean granitoid (yellow shaded areas) and greenstone terrain (green shaded areas) of the Zimbabwe craton. c Generalised stratigraphy of the Bulawayan Supergroup of the Belingwe greenstone belt. Figure modified from ref. 61.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release

How Did Life Develop On Early Earth? New Source Of Nitrogen Discovered

by Keith CowingFebruary 28, 2025February 28, 2025

Researchers involving RPTU University Kaiserslautern-Landau, Southwestern Germany, are unraveling mysteries of a bygone era: As part of current studies, they are investigating how life could have developed on the early […]

A paleo-art reconstruction of a scene from the late Early Triassic, showing a coastal mudplain to alluvial ecosystem in the Heshanggou Formation, North China Credit Mr J Sun (CC BY 4.0)

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Press Release

Fossils Reveal Rapid Land Recovery After End-Permian Extinction

by Keith CowingFebruary 24, 2025February 24, 2025

Tropical riparian ecosystems – those found along rivers and wetlands – recovered much faster than expected following the end-Permian mass extinction around 252 million years ago, according to new research.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Eta-Earth Revisited I: A Formula for Estimating the Maximum Number of Earth-like Habitats

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2025February 2, 2025

In this hypothesis article, we discuss the basic requirements of planetary environments where aerobe organisms can grow and survive, including atmospheric limitations of millimeter-to-meter-sized biological animal life based on physical […]

An image showing the molecular architecture of the specialised enzyme that allows microbes to consume toxic CO from the atmosphere. -- Credit Ashleigh Kropp and Dr David Gillett

Astrochemistry, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Life Support Systems, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

How Microbes Help Detoxify Earth’s Atmosphere

by Keith CowingFebruary 3, 2025February 2, 2025

Melbourne researchers have discovered crucial new information about how microbes consume huge amounts of carbon monoxide (CO) and help reduce levels of this deadly gas.

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report

Technosignatures: Waste Heat And Habitability: Constraints From Technological Energy Consumption

by Keith CowingJanuary 27, 2025January 27, 2025

Waste heat production represents an inevitable consequence of energy conversion as per the laws of thermodynamics.

Stability landscape of the ES in terms of ψ and H. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Chaotic Behaviour of the Earth System in the Anthropocene

by Keith CowingJanuary 18, 2025January 18, 2025

It is shown that the Earth System (ES) can, due to the impact of human activities, exhibit chaotic behaviour.

Bloom season, already underway for several months, continued to dazzle in the productive South Atlantic waters off Argentina. Earlier, in austral spring 2024, satellites captured a clear image of a sizeable phytoplankton bloom along the Patagonian Shelf. -- NASA - More imagery and information

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean World Orbital Biosignature Survey: Phytoplankton In Patagonian Waters

by Keith CowingJanuary 17, 2025June 21, 2026

Editor’s note: when our first missions – human or robotic – arrive at a new world we’ll want to do glean as much information from space – via fly by […]

Multi-beam bathymetric map indicating sampling locations along CIR and SWIR. The blue box of the index map denotes the study area, while the red line denotes the Indian ridge system. -- Microbiology Spectrum

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean World Genomics And Diversity: Upper Circumpolar Deep Water Influences

by Keith CowingJanuary 13, 2025January 12, 2025

Deep sea microbial communities play a significant role in global biogeochemical processes. However, the depth-wise metabolic potential of microbial communities in hydrothermally influenced Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and Southwest Indian […]

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ignan Earths: Habitability of Terrestrial Planets With Extreme Internal Heating

by Keith CowingJanuary 10, 2025

Is it possible for a rocky planet to have too much internal heating to maintain a habitable surface environment? In the Solar System, the best example of a world with […]