[biorxiv.org] The Eboliang Hu saline lakes in the hyper-arid Qaidam Basin is a high-altitude, weakly acidic hypersaline system with strong environmental gradients and limited nitrogen availability.
ecosystem
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Could Earthquakes Sustain Yellowstone’s Underground Life?
[USGS] When you think of earthquakes, “life-sustaining” might not be the phrase that immediately jumps to mind. If you haven’t experienced the destruction of an earthquake yourself, you’ve certainly seen […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Biosignature Reservoirs In The Rozel Point Tar Seeps At Great Salt Lake, Utah
[Frontiers in Microbiology] On the north shore of Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA, naturally occurring tar seeps at Rozel Point provide an opportunity to study a petroleum-rich environment adjacent to […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Orbital Biosphere Assays: Lowering Barriers To Big Data
Editor’s note: When we begin to conduct Away Team visits to other worlds that host life we will need to do an assay of how everything on these worlds works […]
Posted inExtremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Sample Return From Earth’s Deep Biosphere
[Northwestern University] By studying life deep inside a former gold mine, a Northwestern University-led team of scientists uncovered evidence that Earth’s hidden biosphere operates less like a random collection of […]
Posted inNanotechnology & SynBio
Ecological Constraints To Mirror Life
[bioRxiv] Our biosphere exhibits remarkable diversity yet is constrained by universal organizational principles, including molecular homochirality.
Posted inOrigin & Evolution of Life
Abiotic Sources Of Fixed Nitrogen Sustained Early Ecosystems For Several Hundred Million Years After The Origin Of Life
Nitrogen (N) plays a crucial role in controlling biological productivity. However, it remains unknown how Earth’s earliest ecosystems accessed bioavailable forms of nitrogen.
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, 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 […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Plant Biology, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Orbital Biosignature Assay: Phytoplankton Bloom Off The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast
Editor’s note: As we begin to study worlds in our own solar system that might have life we use our home world as a testbed for the various ways to […]