The microscopic alliance between algae and bacteria offers rare, step-by-step snapshots of how bacteria lose genes and adapt to increasing host dependence. This is shown by a new study led […]
Photosynthesis
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Conferences and Meetings, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Status Report
NASA/NExSS Extraterrestrial Photosynthesis Workshop
A NASA Exoplanets System Science (NExSS) WorkshopMay 15-17, 2026Heidel House, Green Lake, Wisconsin, USAPreceding AbSciCon 2026
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release, Space Agriculture
Researchers Identify Protein That Evolved To Enable Photosynthesis In Land Plants
Evolutionary plant biologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) have identified a protein that evolved approximately 500 million years ago, enabling plants to convert light into energy through […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Origin & Evolution of Life, Plant Biology, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Detecting Alien Living Worlds And Photosynthetic Life Using Imaging Polarimetry With The HWO Coronagraph
Our Earth, being the only living planet that we know, provides us with clues that photosynthetic life-forms may be dominant on other exoplanets for billions of years.
Posted inAnalog Studies, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Press Release
Desert Lichen Offers New Evidence For The Possibility Of Life On Other Planets
Lichen from the Mojave Desert can survive, and replicate, under levels of extreme solar radiation found on Earth-like planets in other solar systems.
![Darkening of the Global Ocean. (A) The rate change (units per year) in the diffuse attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance at 490 nm [ΔKd(490)] measured from MODIS Aqua between 2003 and 2022 in 9 km resolution (CRS: World Mollweide, ESRI:54009). Reds indicate regions where Kd(490) is increasing (oceans are getting darker), while blues indicate regions where Kd(490) is decreasing (oceans are getting lighter). White indicates regions where there was no statistically significant change in Kd(490) over the period 2003–2022. Values of ΔKd(490) were derived for each 9 km resolution pixel using quantile regression to the median performed on the fitted values of an Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model of annual averaged Kd(490) data. (B) International Hydrographic Office sea regions ranked according to the percentage of their area over which Kd(490) is increasing. Numbers inset above bars give the absolute area where Kd(490) is increasing in 10,000 km2. Raw data are presented in Table S4. Areas were calculated in CRS World Mercator (ESRI:54004). -- Global Change Biology](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Water-Planet-Dynamics-Darkening.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAway Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Water Planet Dynamics: Darkening Of Earth’s Global Ocean
The photic zones of the oceans—where sunlight and moonlight drive ecological interactions—are one of the most productive habitats on the planet and fundamental to the maintenance of healthy global biogeochemical […]
Posted inAstropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Magnetic Fields, Electromagnetism, bioelectricity,, Microbiology & Virology, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Light-to-electricity Nanodevice Reveals How Earth’s Oldest Surviving Cyanobacteria Worked
An international team of scientists have unlocked a key piece of Earth’s evolutionary puzzle by decoding the structure of a light-harvesting “nanodevice” in one of the planet’s most ancient lineages […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Sample Return, Status Report
Resilience of Metabolically Active Biofilms of a Desert Cyanobacterium Capable of Far-Red Photosynthesis Under Mars-like Conditions
The response of the desert cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis sp. CCMEE 010 was tested in Mars simulations to investigate the possibility of photosynthesis in near-surface protected niches.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Molecular Clock Analysis Shows Bacteria Used Oxygen Long Before Widespread Photosynthesis
Microbial organisms dominate life on Earth, but tracing their early history and evolution is difficult because they rarely fossilize. Determining when exactly a particular group of microbes first appeared is […]
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Machine Learning Helps Construct An Evolutionary Timeline Of Bacteria
University of Queensland scientists have helped to construct a detailed timeline for bacterial evolution, suggesting some bacteria used oxygen long before evolving the ability to produce it through photosynthesis.