Earth’s breathable atmosphere is key for life, and a new study suggests that the first burst of oxygen was added by a spate of volcanic eruptions brought about by tectonics. […]
Rice University
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
Even 'Goldilocks' Exoplanets Need A Well-Behaved Star
An exoplanet may seem like the perfect spot to set up housekeeping, but before you go there, take a closer look at its star. Rice University astrophysicists are doing just […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
What Recipes Produce a Habitable Planet?
NASA’s interdisciplinary Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) project has awarded Rice University $7.7 million for a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research program aimed at finding many different recipes nature might follow […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Press Release
Lake Bed Reveals Details About Ancient Earth
Sleuthing by a Rice University postdoctoral fellow is part of a new Nature paper that gives credence to theories about Earth’s atmosphere 1.4 billion years ago. Rice’s Justin Hayles and […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Where Did Carbon Come From For Life on Earth?
Research by Rice University Earth scientists suggests that virtually all of Earth’s life-giving carbon could have come from a collision about 4.4 billion years ago between Earth and an embryonic […]
Posted inHabitable Zones, Press Release
The Habitability of Venus and Earth
If conditions had been just a little different an eon ago, there might be plentiful life on Venus and none on Earth. The idea isn’t so far-fetched, according to a […]