They’re found on Mount Everest, in the deep seas, aboard the International Space Station and thousands of them have even crash landed and been spilled onto the moon. The microscopic […]
Panspermia
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
How Dormant Bacteria Come Back To Life
Solving a riddle that has confounded biologists since bacterial spores — inert, sleeping bacteria — were first described more than 150 years ago, researchers at Harvard Medical School have discovered […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Impact events, Interstellar, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Press Release
Searching For Life With Space Dust
Following enormous collisions, such as asteroid impacts, some amount of material from an impacted world may be ejected into space.
Posted inAstrobiology (general), Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Status Report
Multiverse Predictions For Habitability: Origin Of Life Scenarios
If the origin of life is rare and sensitive to the local conditions at the site of its emergence, then, using the principle of mediocrity within a multiverse framework, we […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Icy Worlds, Impact events, Meteorites & Asteroids, Panspermia, Status Report
New Signatures of Bio-Molecular Complexity in the Hypervelocity Impact Ejecta of Icy Moon Analogues
Impact delivery of prebiotic compounds to the early Earth from an impacting comet is considered to be one of the possible ways by which prebiotic molecules arrived on the Earth.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Comets and Asteroids, Panspermia, Press Release
“Green” Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) Full Of Water And Carbon Compounds
“All comets indeed give evidence … of a lot of bad luck, affliction, peril and danger” wrote German author Thomas Hartmann in 1606, reflecting the fact that for a long […]
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release
Rare Opportunity To Study Short-lived Volcanic Island Reveals Sulfur-metabolizing Microbes
In 2015, a submarine volcano in the South Pacific erupted, forming the Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha’apai island, destined to a short, seven-year life.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release
SwRI Examines The Origins Of The Building Blocks Of Life
A new study led by Southwest Research Institute Research Scientist Dr. Danna Qasim posits that interstellar cloud conditions may have played a significant role on the presence of key building […]
Posted inInterstellar, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Panspermia, Press Release
Nanotech Away Missions: Picogram-scale Probes To Explore Nearby Stars
In a forward-looking article, George Church, PhD, from Harvard University and the Wyss Institute, proposes the use of picogram to nanogram-scale probes that can land, replicate, and produce a communications […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Comets and Asteroids, Europa, Icy Worlds, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Comet Impacts Could Bring The Ingredients For Life To Europa’s Ocean
Comet strikes on Jupiter’s moon Europa could help transport critical ingredients for life found on the moon’s surface to its hidden ocean of liquid water — even if the impacts […]