With the help of a tiny fragment of zircon extracted from a remote rock outcrop in Australia, the picture of how our planet became habitable to life about 4.4 billion […]
Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life
Ancient Minerals on Earth and the Origin of Life
Astrobiologists supported by the NASA Astrobiology Institute have shown that mineral species on the early Earth may have been different than the ones found on our planet today. The researchers […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Plant Biology
Symbiotic Fungi Inhabiting Plant Roots Have Major Impact on Atmospheric Carbon
Microscopic fungi that live in plants’ roots play a major role in the storage and release of carbon from the soil into the atmosphere. According to a University of Texas […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Geochemical and planetary dynamical views on the origin of Earth's atmosphere and oceans
Earth’s volatile elements (H, C, and N) are essential to maintaining habitable conditions for metazoans and simpler life forms. However, identifying the sources (comets, meteorites, and trapped nebular gas) that […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life
Natural Affinities May Have Set Stage for Life to Ignite
The chemical components crucial to the start of life on Earth may have primed and protected each other in never-before-realized ways, according to new research led by University of Washington […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release
Snow In An Infant Planetary System
A snow line has been imaged in a far-off infant planetary system for the very first time. The snow line, located in the disc around the Sun-like star TW Hydrae, […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology
Dinoflagellate Fossils: Antarctic Icecap is 33.6 Million Years Old
The Antarctic continental ice cap came into existence during the Oligocene epoch, some 33.6 million years ago, according to data from an international expedition led by the Andalusian Institute of […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Scientists Find Possible Solution to an Ancient Enigma
The widespread disappearance of stromatolites, the earliest visible manifestation of life on Earth, may have been driven by single-celled organisms called foraminifera. Image: Stromatolites, once widespread in coastal areas, now […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Moon, Press Release
Water on the Moon: It’s Been There All Along
Traces of water have been detected within the crystalline structure of mineral samples from the lunar highland upper crust obtained during the Apollo missions, according to a University of Michigan […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Evidence for Iron-Rich Ancient Ocean Changes View of Earth’s Early History
Over the last half-billion years, the ocean mostly has been full of oxygen and teeming with animal life. But earlier, before animals evolved, oxygen was harder to come by. Now […]