[MBARI] An international team of researchers, led by MBARI Senior Scientist Aaron Micallef and Schmidt Ocean Institute, has discovered two remarkable fields of hydrothermal vents in the Doldrums Megatransform and […]
microbiology
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
Orbital Biosignature Assay: Phytoplankton Blooms In The Black Sea
[NASA] The turquoise color is likely caused by coccolithophores, a type of phytoplankton covered with calcium carbonate plates that can give surface waters a milky-blue appearance. These types of phytoplankton […]
Posted inVenus
A Panspermia Origin For Venus Cloud Life
[USRA] Panspermia is the idea that life can originate on one planetary body and then be transferred to other bodies. Impacts are often the suggested method for transfer, as they […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics
Responsible Use of Large Language Models in Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics: A Life-Science Framework for Reliability, Reproducibility, and Risk-Aware Interpretation
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 inLife Support Systems
Integrating Resource Utilization And Bioregenerative Life Support Systems For Sustainable Space Exploration
[Frontiers] The long-term presence of humans in space depends on reducing reliance on Earth’s resupply of materials and resources. In situ resource utilization (ISRU) represents a sustainable approach to support […]
Posted inMars
Fifty Years after Viking: The Promise of Solar System Microbiology and Microbial Ecology
[Astrobiology via PubMed] The ambiguity of the Viking lander life-detection experiments left microbiology and microbial ecology out of space missions for 50 years. However, this was largely because the scientific […]
Posted inUncategorized
Bioleaching Of Critical Trace Metals By Sphingomonas Desiccabilis: Substrate-driven Selectivity In Earth And Space Analogues
Background – Biotechnological advances are transforming the potential for sustainable resource utilization in space exploration. Biomining, using microorganisms to extract valuable metals, has emerged as a viable strategy for in […]
Posted inCryobiology
Coordinated Proteome-scale Remodeling Underlies Polyextremophilic Survival In Antarctic Cryo-hypersaline Brines
Introduction – Cryo-hypersaline brines combine sub-zero temperatures with near-saturated salinity, creating one of Earth’s most extreme habitats. Antarctic Deep Lake provides a natural model for studying how proteins remain stable […]
Posted inEuropa, Meteorites & Asteroids, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Earth As A Potential Source Of Llife For Europa’s Subsurface Ocean
The paper discusses the possibility of dust particles containing living bacteria ejected from Earth reaching Europa and landing on its surface.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Europa, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Probing The Habitability Of Potential Sulfuric Acid Rich Subsurface Lakes In Europa’s Ice Shell Via Saci/STIV Integrated Models
Experimentally modeling the habitability of extreme ocean world conditions, such as those on Jupiter’s moon: Europa, would benefit from integrated microbe-virus model studies to provide both a microbial model and […]