Veryovkina Cave is the world’s deepest known cave (2212 m deep). It is located in the Arabika Massif of Gagra Mountain in the Western Caucasus. Its microbiome remains unknown because […]
Biosignatures
The Goldilocks Problem For Detecting Water In Terrestrial Planets: Constraining Water Abundances In The mid-IR With LIFE
We investigate how well the Large Interferometer for Exoplanets (LIFE) mission concept can detect habitable conditions on exoplanets through the presence of atmospheric water vapor as a proxy for surface […]
Super-Earth Masses And Stellar Abundances From NIRPS Reveal Tentative Evidence For Water-rich Formation Around M Dwarfs
Tracing the compositional link between terrestrial super-Earths and their host stars provides clues to their dominant formation pathway. By constraining the stellar abundances of refractory elements, we can predict the […]
Designing Lightweight Optics To Detect Signs Of Life Beyond Our Solar System
UC Santa Barbara doctoral candidate in physics, Skyler Palatnick, PhD ’26, has been named to Heising-Simons Foundation’s Science program’s new class of 51 Pegasi b Fellows, which he will perform […]
Distribution Of Extraterrestrial Nucleobases, Other N-heterocycles, And Their Precursors In A Sample From Asteroid Bennu
The recent discovery of all five canonical nucleobases in samples from Bennu provides compelling evidence that some of life’s ingredients were synthesized abiotically in the parent body of this asteroid […]
The Zhamanshin Impact Event: Potential Implications for Environmental Responses and Biological Linkages on Earth and Beyond
At least one large-body (diameter > 1.1 km) hypervelocity cratering event occurred during ~ 0.8-0.90 Ma (Zhamanshin, Kazakhstan) in the Middle Pleistocene Transition period.
Influence Of CO Versus CH4 On Organic Haze Formation In Atmospheres Of Diverse Terrestrial Exoplanets
Context. Terrestrial exoplanets are expected to host secondary, high-metallicity atmospheres derived from outgassing of volatiles such as N2, CO2, H2O, CH4, and CO. Photochemical organic hazes are likely to form […]
Ichnofossils in Volcanic Glass From Palaeoproterozoic Hydrothermal Vents Were Burrowed By Microorganisms Probably Seeking Phosphate
Ichnofossils in basaltic glass are putative microscopic trace fossils occurring on modern seafloor and throughout Earth history. While their biological origin remains debated, it is unknown why microorganisms thrive in […]
CO and N2 Produced from H2O, CO2, and NH3 Cometary Ice Analogs
Hypervolatile species such as carbon monoxide (CO) and molecular nitrogen (N2) have been detected in comets, and could be used to constrain comet formation temperature conditions if their presence is […]
Antagonistic Effects Of Amino Acids Support Abiotic Nano-environments In Clay
Prebiotic chemistry in nano-environments confined within catalytic mineral media is emerging as a promising frontier in origins-of-life research. Such confined spaces exhibit physicochemical properties distinct from bulk conditions, enabling out-of-equilibrium […]
