Reproducing the large Earth/Mars mass ratio requires a strong mass depletion in solids within the protoplanetary disk between 1 and 3 AU. The Grand Tack model invokes a specific migration […]
Earth
Posted inAstrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Planetary Sweet Spot: Plate Tectonics Depend on Elemental Abundances
Planet Earth is situated in what astronomers call the Goldilocks Zone — a sweet spot in a solar system where a planet’s surface temperature is neither too hot nor too […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Evidence for Oceans of Water Deep in the Earth
Researchers from the University of New Mexico and Northwestern University report evidence for potentially oceans worth of water deep beneath the United States. Though not in the familiar liquid form […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Habitable Zones
Origins and Concentrations of Water, Carbon, Nitrogen and Noble Gases on Earth
The isotopic compositions of terrestrial hydrogen and nitrogen are clearly different from those of the nebular gas from which the solar system formed, and also differ from most of cometary […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Origin & Evolution of Life
Oxygen Requirements of Earth's Earliest Animals
A new study published recently in PNAS explores the relationship between the origin of animals and the oxygen content of the atmosphere. A rise in the oxygen content of the […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology
Rare Mineral Points to Vast Oceans Beneath the Earth
It might be the ugliest diamond you’ll ever see, but within this brown sliver of carbon is a gem of a find for a University of Alberta scientist working to […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Habitable Zones, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Geochemical and planetary dynamical views on the origin of Earth's atmosphere and oceans
Earth’s volatile elements (H, C, and N) are essential to maintaining habitable conditions for metazoans and simpler life forms. However, identifying the sources (comets, meteorites, and trapped nebular gas) that […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life
Climate Puzzle Over The Origin of Life on Earth
The mystery of why life on Earth evolved when it did has deepened with the publication of a new study in the latest edition of the journal Science. Scientists at […]
Posted inHabitable Zones
Earth's Habitable Lifetime
Findings published today in the journal Astrobiology reveal the habitable lifetime of planet Earth – based on our distance from the sun and temperatures at which it is possible for […]
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life, Titan
Insights into Evolution of Life on Earth from Saturn's Moon Titan
Glimpses of the events that nurtured life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago are coming from an unlikely venue almost 1 billion miles away, according to the leader […]