The average long-term impact of Darwinian evolution on Earth’s habitability remains extremely uncertain. Recent attempts to reconcile this uncertainty by “Darwinizing” nonreplicating biogeochemical processes subject to persistence-based selection conform with […]
When a mudflat crumbles on Earth, or an ice sheet splinters on one of Jupiter’s moons (Europa), or an ancient lakebed breaks on Mars, do these fractures follow a hidden […]
Sometimes scientists must dig and work and sweat to make scientific discoveries. And sometimes a robot rolls over a rock that turns out to be a revelation.
Astronomical surveys have discovered nearly 6,000 exoplanets, including many habitable planets, which may harbor liquid water on their surfaces. The search for life on such planets is one of the […]
Imagine a world filled only with daisies. Light-colored daisies reflect sunlight, cooling down the planet, while darker daisies absorb sunlight, warming it up. Together, these two types of daisies work […]
Some sub-Neptune planets may host habitable conditions; for example “Hycean” worlds with H2 envelopes over liquid water oceans can maintain potentially hospitable pressures and temperatures at their surface.
The radius distribution of close-in planets has been observed to have a bimodal distribution with a dearth of planets around ~1.5-2.0 R⊕ commonly referred to as the ”radius valley”.
The EXO-UV program is an international, interdisciplinary collaboration between astrophysicists and biologists aimed at expanding the characterization of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) environments on exoplanets.
Recent detections of carbon-bearing molecules in the atmosphere of a candidate Hycean world, K2-18 b, with JWST are opening the prospects for characterising potential biospheres on temperate exoplanets.
K-dwarf stars are promising targets in the exploration of potentially habitable planets. Their properties, falling between G and M dwarfs, provide an optimal trade-off between the prospect of habitability and […]
