[Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology ] Cold-adapted and halotolerant enzymes are promising candidates for industrial biocatalysis because they remain active under low-temperature and high-salinity conditions.
Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine
Posted inCryobiology
Antarctica’s Only Two Flowering Plants Reveal Opposing Strategies For Surviving Long-term Warming
[Instituto de Ecologia y Biodiversidad] A team of Chilean and Spanish researchers has published in the scientific journal Physiologia Plantarum the results of one of the longest-running in situ warming […]
Posted inAnalog Studies
Offworld Expedition Training: Astronauts Explore An Ancient Earth Volcano
[ESA]. From its rim, remnants of recent eruptions lie open for this crew of astronauts learning geology for planetary exploration. Participants of PANGAEA’s 10th edition are ESA astronaut Pablo Álvarez Fernández, […]
Posted inExploration Gear & Tech
Looking Inside Living Antarctic Cells For The First Time
[British Antarctic Survey] Cambridge engineers have built the first microscope to see inside living cells in sub-zero conditions, revealing secrets of Antarctic fish survival.
Posted inTricorders & Sensors
Tricorder Tech: What A Spacefaring Arctic Microbe Reveals About Life in Alien Oceans
[ISS National Laboratory] It lives in places where life should not exist. In the brine channels that thread through Arctic sea ice, it survives temperatures that would freeze most bacteria […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Do Himalayan-style Mountains Lie Under The Antarctic ice: Implication For The Gondwana Supermountains, The Rise Of Oxygen And The Cambrian Explosion?
[Earth and Planetary Science Letters] Analyses of detrital zircons from Antarctica show that its tectonics were dominated by Himalayan-style mountains, the roots of which now underlie the ice sheet.
Posted inCryobiology
Unveiling Microbial Communities And Biogeochemical Cycles In Antarctic Colored Snow
[BMC Microbiology]. Snow cover, the extensive terrestrial habitat in Antarctica, sometimes exhibits vivid coloration, yet the structure and function of its microbial communities remain poorly characterized.
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports
Ice Planet Exploration: Tara Polaris I Expedition
[ESA] Soon to be frozen in space and time, this alien-looking vessel is beginning its first mission into drifting ice in the Arctic Ocean. A dozen people won’t leave it […]
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine
Atmospheric Microbial Transport to Antarctica and Its Ecological Implications: A Systematic Review
[Environmental Microbiology] Atmospheric transport is hypothesized to be the primary vector connecting isolated Antarctic terrestrial habitats to global microbial pools, yet the mechanisms governing this connectivity still have important gaps.
Posted inIcy Worlds
Amplified Cooling Of Snowball Earth From A Salt-albedo Feedback
[Climate of the Past] It is believed that the atmospheric circulation on Snowball Earth produced a net ablation zone exposing bare sea ice.