oxygen Archives

Spores of the parasite H. salminicola swim under a microscope. Those alien "eyes" are actually stinger cells, one of the few features this organism hasn't evolved away. (Image credit: Stephen Douglas Atkinson)

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report

Henneguya salminicola Lacks A Mitochondrial Genome And Does Not Require Oxygen

by Keith CowingJanuary 12, 2025January 11, 2025

Mitochondrial respiration is an ancient characteristic of eukaryotes. However, it was lost independently in multiple eukaryotic lineages as part of adaptations to an anaerobic lifestyle.

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 […]

Composite age model constructed from the NKT section and comparison to other estimates for the age and duration of OAE1a. Two youngest dated tuffs SAB-046 and SAB-054 correlated from the nearby SAB section. Shaded distributions in color denote the summed probability distribution of 206Pb/238U dates for each tuff, as likelihood inputs into Bayesian modeling. Posterior distributions are superimposed in black on original likelihoods. The black solid line indicates the median, and the 95% HDI indicated by light gray shading represents the model uncertainty for all interpolated points between tuffs. The right panel illustrates estimates for the age of onset and termination of OAE1a at other sites compared to our results from Hokkaido. Note that, as described in the text, OAE1a is not consistently defined. Hk, Hokkaido; Cs, Cismon; Pb, Piobbico; Pg, Poggio le Guaine; Sb, Svalbard; Sd, Shandong. Only symbols with an error bar represent dates with an uncertainty value; otherwise, no uncertainty is provided. -- Science Advances

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Prehistoric Rock In Japan Reveals Clues To A Major Ocean Anoxic Event

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 19, 2024

By studying prehistoric rocks and fossils emerging from the side of Mount Ashibetsu in Japan, researchers have precisely refined the timing and duration of Ocean Anoxic Event 1a (OAE 1a), […]

Comparison of (telluric) molecular oxygen spectrum observed using low-medium resolution spectrograph and interferometer-based instruments. The top panel shows the observed telluric spectrum from archival X-Shooter spectra with spectral resolution ranging from R=1500 to R=18000 in different colors. The lower panel shows the spectrum from FTS126 (red) with R=700,000 and FIOS-demo133 (purple) with R=250,000 overlaid with a fitted model. Note that the two observations were taken at different altitudes, which explains the differences in the line depths of the features. -- Science Reports via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Instrumentation Prospects For Rocky Exoplanet Atmospheres Studies With High Resolution Spectroscopy

by Keith CowingDecember 8, 2024December 8, 2024

Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets is one of the most promising ways to learn about distant worlds beyond our solar system. The composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere can provide critical […]

Polymetallic nodules, also called manganese nodules, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean; surprising new research suggests deep sea rocks are capable of producing oxygen without help from plants or the sun. Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Geomar Bilddatenbank/ROV KIEL 6000, GEOMAR

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Origin & Evolution of Life, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Oxygen Produced In The Deep Sea Raises Questions About Extraterrestrial Life

by Keith CowingAugust 27, 2024August 27, 2024

Over 12,000 feet below the surface of the sea, in a region of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), million-year-old rocks cover the seafloor. These rocks may […]

Polymetallic nodule. CREDIT Franz Geiger/Northwestern University

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

The Deep-ocean Floor Produces Its Own Oxygen

by Keith CowingJuly 22, 2024July 22, 2024

An international team of researchers, including a Northwestern University chemist, has discovered that metallic minerals on the deep-ocean floor produce oxygen — 13,000 feet below the surface.

Predicted log(N/O) vs log(O/H)+12 for GN-z11. Different evolutionary tracks represent different Pop III star-forming clumps, which merge into the main-branch of the galaxy. The tracks are colour-coded in time (left) and stellar mass (right). The light-purple trapezoid, the dark-purple rectangle and the grey stripe represent the conservative and fiducial results for the abundances of GN-z11 by Cameron et al. (2023). The blue points are the photoionisation modelling results for GN-z11 by Senchyna et al. (2023). -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Interstellar, Status Report

The Earliest Phases of CNO Enrichment in Galaxies

by Keith CowingJune 24, 2024June 24, 2024

Context. The recent detection of nitrogen-enhanced, metal-poor galaxies at high redshift by the James Webb Space Telescope has sparked renewed interest in exploring the chemical evolution of carbon, nitrogen, and […]

Reprocessed images of Uranus [L]] and Neptune [R] NASA/JPL-Caltech (Uranus and Neptune); “Modelling the Seasonal Cycle of Uranus’s Colour and Magnitude, and Comparison with Neptune,” by Patrick G. J. Irwin et al., in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 527, No. 4; February 2024 (reprocessed images)

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gas Giants, Ice Giant, Icy Worlds, Neptune, Status Report, Uranus

Insights on the Formation Conditions of Uranus and Neptune from their Deep Elemental Compositions

by Keith CowingJune 20, 2024May 12, 2025

This study, placed in the context of the preparation for the Uranus Orbiter Probe mission, aims to predict the bulk volatile compositions of Uranus and Neptune. Using a protoplanetary disk […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Geologic Record Demonstrates How Earth’s Oceans Were Oxygenated 2.3 billion Years Ago

by Keith CowingJune 13, 2024September 18, 2025

About 2.5 billion years ago, free oxygen, or O2, first started to accumulate to meaningful levels in Earth’s atmosphere, setting the stage for the rise of complex life on our […]

This illustration shows magnetic field lines that Earth generates today. The Moon no longer has a magnetic field. -- NASA

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

A Weak Magnetic Field May Have Supported The Diversification Of Life On Earth

by Keith CowingMay 3, 2024May 3, 2024

An unusual reduction in the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field between 591 and 565 million years ago coincided with a significant increase in the oxygen levels in the atmosphere […]