The ongoing search for signs of life on Mars relies in part on terrestrial analogs – places on Earth closely resembling the past or current geology and climate of the […]
Present-day Mars is cold and dry, but mineralogical and morphological evidence shows that liquid-water existed on the surface of ancient Mars.
In particular, the interaction between functional ribozymes and ancient minerals under simulated primitive conditions is a recent research focus.
Among other discoveries made by the rover, rippled rock textures suggest lakes existed in a region of ancient Mars that scientists expected to be drier.
NASA-supported Astrobiologists have revealed that alkaline hydrothermal vents in shallow seas could have been a favorable environment for the chemistry leading up to the origin of life on the early […]
Researchers supported by NASA have used a model to predict the concentration of nitrous oxide (N2O) in the atmosphere of planets over a range of conditions. On Earth, N2O can […]
The Latest Permian Mass Extinction (LPME) was the largest extinction in Earth’s history to date, killing between 80-90% of life on the planet, though finding definitive evidence for what caused […]
The process of minerals in rocks being chemically broken down, or weathered – which plays a crucial role in controlling Earth’s climate – removes less carbon dioxide (CO2) if temperatures […]
Komatiites represent the oldest known terrestrial rocks, and their composition has been cataloged as the closest to that of the first terrestrial crust after the cooling of the magma ocean.
The evolution of tree roots may have triggered a series of mass extinctions that rocked the Earth’s oceans during the Devonian Period over 300 million years ago, according to a […]
