One leading theory on the origins of life on Earth proposes that simple chemical molecules gradually became more complex, ultimately forming protocells—primitive, non-living structures that were precursors of modern cells.
Japanese collaborators detected all five nucleobases — building blocks of DNA and RNA — in samples returned from asteroid Bennu by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission.
Curtin University researchers have gained an unprecedented glimpse into the early history of our solar system through some of the most well-preserved asteroid samples ever collected, potentially transforming our understanding […]
During the past year, there’s been an unusual set of samples at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab): material gathered from the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu when […]
It took two years for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx space probe to return from asteroid Bennu before dropping off a small capsule as it flew past Earth, which was then recovered in […]
A new analysis of samples from the asteroid Bennu, NASA’s first asteroid sample captured in space and delivered to Earth, reveals that evaporated water left a briny broth where salts […]
Studies of rock and dust from asteroid Bennu delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security–Regolith Explorer) spacecraft have revealed molecules that, on our planet, […]
The Dead Sea is a highly dynamic system: Its level has been dropping by roughly one meter per year for more than 50 years, because it is cut off from […]
![Images of cells via optical microscopy for 95-level (a), and via fluorescence microscopy combined with SYTO-9 staining for the (b) 101-level, (c) 1200-level, and (d) service water. Scale bar on the lower right of each image represents 5 μm. Magnification was 50x for (a) and 1000x for (b), (c) and (d). Cells in (a) are circular features entrapped in halite fluid inclusions and identified by red arrows. Cells in (b), (c), and (d) appear as bright green shapes. In (b), green background fluorescence highlights the high level of dissolved organic carbon debris for this sample [29]. Cell counts for the 95-, 101-, service water, and 1200-levels were 102 cells/mL ±10, 104 cells/mL ± 102, 106 cells/mL ± 104.5, 105 cells/mL ±103.3, respectively (error in standard deviation). A schematic is included to the right showing the depth and major lithology of fluid sampling sites considered in this study. -- ISME Communications](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Radiolytic-Support-For-Oxidative-Metabolism-In-An.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Long-isolated subsurface brine environments (Ma-Ga residence times) may be habitable if they sustainably provide substrates, e.g. through water-rock reaction, that support microbial catabolic energy yields exceeding maintenance costs.
A purplish, scaley wave lures the attention of a European spacecraft as it flies over Mars’s Terra Sirenum, Latin for Sea of the Sirens. It is just an optical illusion […]
