Around 4 billion years ago, Earth was an inhospitable place, devoid of oxygen, bursting with volcanic eruptions, and bombarded by asteroids, with no signs of life in even the simplest […]
Origin & Evolution of Life
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Two-billion-year-old Salt Rock Reveals The Rise of Oxygen in Earth's Ancient Atmosphere
A 2-billion-year-old chunk of sea salt provides new evidence for the transformation of Earth’s atmosphere into an oxygenated environment capable of supporting life as we know it. The study by […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Sulfidic Anion Concentrations on Early Earth for Surficial Origins-of-Life Chemistry
A key challenge in origin-of-life studies is understanding the environmental conditions on early Earth under which abiogenesis occurred. While some constraints do exist (e.g., zircon evidence for surface liquid water), […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Chemists Discover Plausible Recipe For Early Life On Earth
Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a fascinating new theory for how life on Earth may have begun. Their experiments, described today in the journal Nature Communications, […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Mysterious New Seafloor Species Sheds Light on Early Animal Evolution
Japanese researchers have discovered a new species of the enigmatic marine worm Xenoturbella, which they have named Xenoturbella japonica, as reported in a new study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology. […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Fossil Microorganisms Indicate Life in the Universe is Common
A new analysis of the oldest known fossil microorganisms provides strong evidence to support an increasingly widespread understanding that life in the universe is common. The microorganisms, from Western Australia, […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astronauts and Explorers, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Life Support Systems, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, People Of Astrobiology, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 28 November 2017: Last Week at Lake Untersee
This message was received via Iridium on 28 November 28, 2017 8:13:28 AM EST “We are in our last week of work here at Untersee before heading back to Novo […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Cryobiology, Dale Andersen's Field Reports, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Life Support Systems, Origin & Evolution of Life, People Of Astrobiology, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Astrobiologist Dale Andersen Antarctic Status Report 26 November 2017: Busy Days at Lake Untersee
Dale Andersen sent this message on 26 November 2017 at :09:26 AM EST: “We are working pretty hard while taking advantage of the nice days we have had recently. I […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Potential Missing Link In The Chemistry That Led to Life on Earth
Chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a compound that may have been a crucial factor in the origins of life on Earth. Origins-of-life researchers have hypothesized that […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Was The Primordial Soup a Hearty Pre-protein Stew?
The primordial soup that sloshed around billions of years ago, and eventually led to first life on our planet, might have been teeming with primal precursors of proteins. Ancestors of […]