Press Release Archives

Reconstruction of the ancestral LECA proteome and its metabolic features

Rethinking The Origin Of Our Cells As A Story Of Microbial Alliances

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2026June 13, 2026

All cells in animals, plants, fungi, and protists share a fundamental characteristic: they are eukaryotic cells—complex cells with specialized internal compartments. The cells that make up our bodies are no […]

Geologists recently converged on a site near Barstow, California, to ground-truth a mineral discovery made on public land by a NASA JPL sensor flying aboard a plane overhead. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Astrogeology, Astronauts and Explorers, Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, People Of Astrobiology, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Mission: NASA, USGS Scientists Go Rock Hounding in California’s High Desert

by Keith CowingJune 12, 2026June 26, 2026

Editor’s note: when it comes to conducting field trips – sorties – Away Team missions – on another world, astrogeology and astrobiology and astrochemistry overlap with one another all the […]

Schematic of the selection step in the doped in emulsio selection.

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

What Powered the Earth’s Earliest Life?

by Keith CowingJune 12, 2026June 12, 2026

Early biological systems likely relied on RNA molecules to copy themselves and drive simple chemical reactions.

Trillion Gene Atlas -- Basecamp Research

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Press Release, Sample Return, Space Life Science, Tricorders & Sensors

Planetary Genomics: Basecamp Research Launches The Trillion Gene Atlas

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Editor’s note: If we aspire to mount expeditions to new worlds and then embrace the task of characterizing and quantifying whatever life forms we find, the ability to map and […]

Super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are fairly common across our galaxy, but they don’t appear in our own solar system. Their size ranges fall in between Earth and Neptune. Credit: Keith Miller (Caltech/IPAC/SELab)

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

Finding Patterns in Planets: Researchers Explore the Demographics of Alien Worlds in K2 Data

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Our galaxy is jam-packed with planets, with thousands already discovered and millions more expected to eventually come into view. Within this ever-growing bounty, surprises have abounded, revealing that our solar […]

To test the method, the team analyzed more than 100 organic and inorganic samples, including material from three-billion-year-old Earth rocks, dinosaur eggshells and fossilized dinosaur feathers caught in amber, as well as samples collected in space from the Ryugu and Bennu asteroids. Asteroid Bennu. Credit: NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Before The Aliens, The Amino Acids

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Before any wrinkled, wide-eyed creature from a distant civilization asks to be taken home, the first success in the search for life beyond Earth might be more prosaic. A clue […]

Optical depth spectrum and ENIIGMA best-fit model for the 4.0-4.45 µm region and its separate components. Major gas lines are labeled. The inset zooms in on the HDO ice feature. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

First Detection Of HDO Ice In A Protoplanetary Disk

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Protoplanetary disks are the birthplace of planets and planetary systems. Investigating the molecular inventory of disks is key to linking the chemical evolution of the interstellar medium and the makeup […]

Mariana Trench slope viewed through a Human-Occupied Vehicle (HOV) window. Credit BGI Research

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Deep Sea Is An Untapped Evolutionary Engine Says New Study

by Keith CowingJune 11, 2026June 11, 2026

Editor’s note: As we expand outward from Earth to other worlds we are almost certainly going to encounter things we did not expect to find – things that are unlikely […]

Chicxulub Impact - Grok via Astrobiology.com

Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release

Meteorite Which Wiped Out The Dinosaurs Also Created A Record-breaking Hydrothermal System

by Keith CowingJune 10, 2026June 26, 2026

The meteorite which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs also created an underground environment suited to supporting new life, and new research suggests it lasted for millions of years longer […]