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 […]
Introduction: The presence of hypersaline brines on other planets and moons in the inner and outer Solar System has been well established.
Salinibacter ruber strain M31T, an extremely halophilic bacterium, was isolated from a saltern crystallizer pond in Spain. Single-molecule real-time sequencing revealed a 3.6-Mbp genome with a single 3.55-Mbp circular chromosome […]
![Raman optical observations at 10× and 100× showing original halite hopper crystal and microbial movement within fluid inclusions entombed within the crystal structure. (A) Entire halite cubic crystal showing rectangular fluid inclusions on all four faces with an air bubble on the left face. Scale bar is at 100 μm. (B) Enhanced image of (A) showing fluid inclusion patterns within cubic halite habits. Scale bar is at 100 μm. (C) 100× image highlighting a fluid inclusion within a single crystal. Red arrows show microbial movement. Green targeting dot highlights an entombed biomass. Scale bar is 2 μm. (D) Another 100× image showing a larger fluid inclusion [when compared with (C)] with increased microbial movement within the fluid inclusion. Scale bar is 2 μm for 2C,D. -- Astrobiology via Sage Journals](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Evaporitic-Preservation-of-Modern.png?resize=1200%2C713&ssl=1)
Our investigation in Mars-relevant terrestrial environments where biological material is entombed within rapidly precipitated evaporite crystals has given us the ability to evaluate the preservation potential of a hypersaline brine […]
Halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms, as members of the extremophile group, hold significant potential for both industrial applications and astrobiological research.
Hypersaline environments, including brines and brine inclusions of evaporite crystals, are currently of great interest due to their unique preservation properties for the search for terrestrial and potentially extraterrestrial biosignatures […]
The Atacama Desert, one of the most extreme environments on our planet, harbors a plethora of unique microbial communities adapted to the harsh conditions of the habitat.
Characterizing deep subsurface microbial communities informs our understanding of Earth’s biogeochemistry as well as the search for life beyond the Earth.
No instrument capable of direct life detection has been included on a mission payload to Mars since NASA’s Viking missions in the 1970s. This prevents us from discovering whether life […]
Scientists have long suspected nematodes, commonly known as roundworms, inhabit Utah’s Great Salt Lake sediments, but until recently, no one had actually recovered any there.
