[ELSP] A comprehensive model of the Cambrian explosion featuring “multi-factors coupling and multi-sphere driving”. Supercontinent breakup and mantle plume activity served as the initial trigger of environmental change in the […]
biodiversity
Posted inMicrobiology & Virology
Controlled Near-space Exposure Induces Community Restructuring In An Ocean Water Microbiome
[biorxiv.org] Marine microbiomes may experience extreme environmental stress during atmospheric transport, yet how near-space conditions reshape natural microbial communities remains poorly understood.
Posted inWater/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
How Ocean Chemistry On Earth Helped Life Keep Breathing
[UC Riverside] Scientists have helped solve a longstanding mystery about how Earth remained habitable after oxygen first accumulated in its atmosphere more than 2 billion years ago, providing evidence that […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Orbital Biosignature Assays: FLEX Photosynthesis Satellite Fueled
[ESA] Europe’s newest eye on the health of Earth’s vegetation has taken another crucial step towards orbit – the European Space Agency’s FLEX satellite has been fueled at Europe’s Spaceport […]
Posted inAnalog Studies
Astrobiology In A Mesophilic Tropical Country: A Database And A Review Of Analog Environments In Brazil
[Life Sciences in Space Research] Astrobiological analog environments comprise Earth-based environments that share similarities with a target setting (another planetary body or Precambrian Earth conditions) and whose defining features influence […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Ocean World Genomics: Earth’s Deep Sea Is An Untapped Evolutionary Engine
[University of East Anglia Norwich] The deep-sea is a unique ‘evolutionary engine’ with one of the richest and most unexplored sources of genetic diversity on Earth, according to a major […]
Posted inExtinction events
Researchers Confirm The Cause Of Earth’s Biggest Mass Extinction
[Stanford University] A new Stanford-led study offers the clearest picture yet of how some ocean life survived our planet’s biggest mass extinction while most animals did not.
Posted inAway 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
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 […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Impact events, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Pioneering Research Sheds New Light On What Shaped Extinction Pattern Of Prehistoric Marine Life – And Size Clearly Mattered
Scientists have shown conclusively for the first time that tiny marine organisms in polar oceans survived the mass extinction event that wiped out prehistoric dinosaurs because they needed less energy […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Hidden Viruses Reshape One Of Earth’s Largest Carbon Systems
Viruses play a far more active role in Earth’s carbon cycle than previously understood, according to new research that reveals how they infect and control microbes responsible for carbon production […]