Michigan State University Archives - Astrobiology

Impact of continental chemical weathering and oceanic redox processes on sedimentary Fe speciation. (A) Compilation of Fe speciation data for different rock types (37), the modern terrestrial Earth’s surface (37), tropical soils (this study), and suspended particles (SPM) from 22 rivers in the United States (25), as well as from eight additional rivers worldwide (26), including the Amazon River (Amz), Brahmaputra River (Brp), Magdalena River (Mgd), and Nile River. -- PNAS

Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Iron Helped Scientists Trace Earth’s Oxygen. Now It’s Telling A Bigger Story

by Keith CowingSeptember 3, 2026September 3, 2026

[Michigan State University] For decades, scientists have studied iron preserved in ancient rocks to reconstruct how Earth’s oceans and atmosphere became rich in oxygen. A new study suggests iron has […]

In a new study, researchers provide measures of elevation and climate around 47 sites in the U.S. National Ecological Observatory Network, from Florida’s Everglades to the Alaskan tundra hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle. Credit Courtesy of Kelly Kapsar, Michigan State University

Biosignatures & Paleobiology

Orbital Biosphere Assays: Lowering Barriers To Big Data

by Keith CowingAugust 10, 2026August 10, 2026

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 […]

MSU researcher Katie Maloney contributed samples of rare, exceptionally well-preserved seaweed fossils (e.g., macroscopic algae) from Yukon Territory, Canada. These fossils are almost one-billion years old and represent one of the first seaweeds known in the fossil record when most life still needs to viewed through a microscope. Credit Katie Maloney

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Sample Return

Ancient Chemical Clues Reveal Earth’s Earliest Life 3.3 Billion Years Ago

by Keith CowingNovember 24, 2025November 24, 2025

A new study uncovered fresh chemical evidence of life in rocks more than 3.3 billion years old, along with molecular traces showing that oxygen-producing photosynthesis emerged nearly a billion years […]

The upper half of the figure illustrates the process of generating a molecular dication by doubly ionizing methanol via electron rescattering. The electric field of the ultrafast laser pulse (represented by the dashed line) bends methanol’s potential (shown in yellow), resulting in tunnel ionization which creates a high-energy electron that accelerates back toward the molecule when the field reverses its direction. The returning electron has sufficiently high kinetic energy to remove the second electron from the molecule within the same optical cycle, producing the CH3OH2+ dication. Given the short pulse duration (∼ 35 fs), the dynamics of the CH3OH2+ species, shown in the lower half of the figure, are not influenced by the electric field of the laser. The dication in its lowest singlet state ejects a neutral H2 fragment consisting of the hydrogen atoms labeled as H(2) and H(3), which then roams the remaining CHOH2+ moiety until it abstracts the proton corresponding to the hydrogen atom H(1) bound to the carbon, leading to the formation of H3+ -- Michigan State University

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

New Sources Discovered For ‘The Molecule That Made The Universe’

by Keith CowingJune 19, 2025June 19, 2025

From helping catalyze interstellar reactions and fueling the birth of stars to its presence in neighborhood gas giants like Saturn and Jupiter, trihydrogen, or H3+, is best known as the […]

A diagram showing the evolutionary history from an aquatic organism and adaptive traits of CSP1-3 phylum for each habitat.-- Michigan State University

Analog Studies, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Nomenclature, Systematics, Natural History, Press Release

New Microbes Discovered Deep In Earth’s Soil

by Keith CowingApril 8, 2025April 8, 2025

Leonardo da Vinci once said, “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.”

C. merolae as seen through a microscope. -- Credit: Anne Steensma

Analog Studies, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release

Photosynthetic Insights From Volcanic Hot Springs

by Keith CowingFebruary 7, 2025February 7, 2025

Italy’s Phlegraean Fields is a hotspot of volcanic activity — an ever-shifting landscape pocketed with acidic hot springs. This huge caldera is a part of the Campanian volcanic arc, which […]

Notional early plant life on Earth -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release

Explaining The Delayed Rise Of Plants And Animals On Land: Iodine And Oxygen

by Keith CowingJanuary 9, 2025January 9, 2025

If you like the smell of spring roses, the sounds of summer birdsong and the colors of fall foliage, you have the stabilization of the ozone layer to thank for […]

Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids

Studying Meteorites May Reveal Mars' Secrets of Life

by Keith CowingMay 1, 2013

In an effort to determine if conditions were ever right on Mars to sustain life, a team of scientists, including a Michigan State University professor, has examined a meteorite that […]