The Arctic is cold and hostile to life, yet it is home to a large number of microorganisms whose activity has a significant impact on life on our planet.
The search for life beyond Earth fascinates many and inspires big questions: Are we truly alone in the Universe? Is our Earth unique? Is it possible that life beyond Earth […]
Communities of microorganisms at the bottom of polar lakes evolved independently from other regions, influenced by the particular geological, biological and climate history of their regions. The unique character of […]
Editor’s note: as we prepare to visit ice-covered ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus – and one day to actually drill beneath their outer surface – we’re certainly going […]
![Evolution of the compaction coefficient λ(η, t) with the ice viscosity and the compaction time. The average ice compaction coefficient measured on Earth is given by the yellow line λ = 5.5 × 10−6 Pa−1 . Black square represents the location of the Antarctica A2 dataset in this graph, estimated from the local accumulation rate of snow. White square represents our scenario for Europa, where the compaction time is taken to be the ice crust age and for a viscosity of η = 1021 Pa s [23]. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/GravityInducedIce.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Our understanding of the surface porosity of icy moons and its evolution with depth remains limited, including the precise scale at which ice compaction occurs under self-weight pressure.
An international team of scientists from Sweden, Norway, Japan, and Switzerland, has presented research findings that reveal a crucial role of biological particles, including pollen, spores, and bacteria, in the […]
The SETI Institute is delighted to announce that Dr. Pascal Lee will be honored with the 2023 Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization presented by Wonderfest.
Scientists at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) have developed a radar technique that lets them image hidden features within the upper few feet of ice sheets. The […]
One quarter of the Northern hemisphere is underlain by permanently frozen ground, referred to as permafrost.
The amazing survival strategies of polar marine creatures might help to explain how the first animals on Earth could have evolved earlier than the oldest fossils suggest according to new […]
