Sixty-million-year-old rock samples from deep under the ocean have revealed how huge amounts of carbon dioxide are stored for millennia in piles of lava rubble that accumulate on the seafloor.
![The Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over one of Earth’s most extreme environments: the Danakil Depression in Ethiopia. [If you go to the original ESA posting] Zoom in or click on the circles to explore this image at its full 10 m resolution.](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Astrobiology-Analog-Site-Copernicus.jpg?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Located in northeastern Ethiopia, near the border with Eritrea, the Danakil Depression lies between the Danakil Alps on the east and the Ethiopian Plateau on the west. It is a […]
Billions of years ago, water flowed across Mars. Most scientists agree the red planet had rivers. But did those rivers flow into an ocean? New research from the University of […]
The planet Mars is home to thick layers of clay that can span hundreds of feet. Since they need water to form, these outcrops have long been of interest to […]
Few described archaeal, and fewer bacterial, lineages thrive at salt-saturating conditions, such as solar saltern crystallizers (salinity above 30%-w/v).
Continents are part of what makes Earth uniquely habitable for life among the planets of the solar system, yet surprisingly little is understood about what gave rise to these huge […]
Deep down in the ocean at tectonic plate boundaries, hot fluids rise from so-called hydrothermal vents. The fluids are devoid of oxygen and contain large amounts of metals such as […]
If we find life on the Red Planet, we’ll have astrobiologists like Dr. Kennda Lynch to thank. Lynch is an astrobiologist and geomicrobiologist studying life in extreme environments on Earth […]
The first study of ultra-small bacteria living in the extreme environment of Ethiopia’s Dallol hot springs shows that life can thrive in conditions similar to those thought to have been […]
The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is a spectacular, hostile environment that may resemble conditions encountered on Mars and Titan — as well as in sites containing nuclear waste. From 20 […]
