Within the payloads of JUICE and Europa Clipper, there are instruments suitable for the search of specific biosignatures that can diagnose life tracks in two ways.
Solid surfaces have long been considered catalysts in prebiotic chemistry, yet their physical energy has rarely been explored as a driver of protocell assembly.
The emergence of protocells, membranous compartments with encapsulated genetic material, was a crucial step in life’s origin and evolution. The hot spring hypothesis for the origin of life suggests that […]
![iss057e000185 (10/8/2018) – Biomolecule Sequencer [a flight certified Nanopore MinIon] for the BEST experiment floating in front of Window 7 in the Cupola module. Earth is in the background. The Biomolecule Sequencer seeks to demonstrate, for the first time, that DNA sequencing is feasible in an orbiting spacecraft. A space-based DNA sequencer could identify microbes, diagnose diseases and understand crew member health, and potentially help detect DNA-based life elsewhere in the solar system. -- NASA](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Nanopore-Sequencing.jpg?resize=1200%2C721&ssl=1)
In future years, it seems likely that someone will claim they have discovered a process that allows a mixture of simple molecules to assemble into structures and systems with the […]
The hot spring hypothesis for the origin of life proposes that naturally occurring wet-dry cycles in small bodies of water could have driven condensation reactions on prebiotic Earth.
The emergence of life from inanimate matter presents a thermodynamic challenge: the Second Law of Thermodynamics dictates a global trend towards disorder, yet life constitutes localized pockets of profound organization.
NASA-supported scientists have resurrected an enzyme first used by organisms on Earth 3.2-billion years ago and, in the process, have validated a chemical biosignature in rocks that is used to […]
Over the past decade, the rapid expansion of large-scale data and advances in computational power have allowed machine learning (ML), especially deep learning, to reshape many areas of biological research. […]
The habitability of the early Earth was affected by various factors. We focus here on atmospheric oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4). O2 is essential for supporting eukaryotic life, including plants […]
Understanding whether prebiotic molecules can endure and reform through the energetic stages of star formation is essential for tracing the continuity of interstellar chemistry toward life. Glycolamide, an isomer of […]
