Hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor release carbon dioxide that is many million years old. This old carbon originates from the Earth’s interior, and it escapes either directly from the […]
The emergence of phototrophy is one of the most significant innovations in the history of life, vastly increasing available metabolic energy. Phototrophy is, however, known to have arisen only twice.
Photosynthesis is central to Earth’s biosphere and a prime candidate for sustaining complex life on habitable exoplanets, yet a thermodynamically consistent treatment of the work potential of stellar radiation at […]
Before plants evolved, vegetative life consisted of primitive green algae living in the sea. Like plants, these algae survived by performing photosynthesis, turning sunlight into energy. However, little light reaches […]
The rise of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere during the Great Oxidation Event (GOE) occurred about 2.3 billion years ago. There is considerably greater uncertainty for the origin of oxygenic […]
South Africa is home to some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, contained in rocky, often layered outcroppings called microbialites. Like coral reefs, these complex “living rocks” are […]
One of the first organisms to appear on Earth was cyanobacteria, which carried out oxygenic photosynthesis.
Viruses play essential roles in shaping the structure and function of microbial communities, including those inhabiting extreme environments.
The search for extrasolar photosynthetic life is one of the most important goals for modern astrobiology. Recent discoveries of cold brown dwarfs, as well as planets orbiting M-, G-, K-, […]
May 15-17, 2026Heidel House, Green Lake, Wisconsin, USAPreceding AbSciCon 2026 Applications for the NExSS Extraterrestrial Photosynthesis Workshop are now open. Deadline to apply is January 11, 2026.
