In the search for life on exoplanets, finding nothing is something too
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
10h ago
What if humanity's search for life on other planets returns no hits? A team of researchers led by Dr. Daniel Angerhausen, a Physicist in Professor Sascha Quanz's Exoplanets and Habitability Group at ETH Zurich and a SETI Institute affiliate, tackled this question by considering what could be learned about life in the universe if future surveys detect no signs of life on other planets ..read more
Visit website
Microscopy reveals signs of life in Earth's extremes, boosting search for alien life
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
3d ago
New research from Portland State University focused on identifying signs of life—biosignatures—in extreme environments here on Earth. Researchers investigated whether microbial active motion (e.g., swimming), morphology, and optical properties could serve as biosignatures using in situ video microscopy at a range of extreme field sites, many of which had not been previously explored with this technique ..read more
Visit website
Unique bacteria that survive by employing multicellular behavior offer clues to life's evolution
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
5d ago
In a recent study, researchers gained new insight into the lives of bacteria that survive by grouping together as if they were a multicellular organism. The organisms in the study are the only bacteria known to do this in this way, and studying them could help astrobiologists explain important steps in the evolution of life on Earth ..read more
Visit website
Lunar polar regions could have microbes, modeling study suggests
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
6d ago
Could microbes survive in the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the moon? This is what a recent study presented at the 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2025) hopes to address as a team of researchers from the United States and Canada investigated the likelihood of long-term survival for microbes in the PSR areas of the moon, which are craters located at the poles that don't see sunlight due to the moon's small axial tilt ..read more
Visit website
How can we find cryovolcanoes on Europa?
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
6d ago
In the 1970s, NASA's Voyager probes passed through Jupiter's system and snapped pictures of its largest moons, also known as the Galilean moons. These pictures and the data they gathered offered the first hints that a global ocean may be beneath Europa's icy crust. Moreover, planetary models indicated that Europa's interactions with Jupiter's powerful gravity could lead to tidal flexing in the moon's interior. In short, scientists learned that Europa could have all the necessary ingredients for life in its interior ..read more
Visit website
How to engineer microbes to enable us to live on Mars
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
6d ago
A field known as synthetic biology has become one of the most highly anticipated in science. Its outputs range from golden rice, which is genetically engineered to provide vitamin A, to advances stemming from the Human Genome Project, which successfully mapped the entire human genome. Prominent voices in biotechnology have heralded it as the next wave of the future of innovation ..read more
Visit website
A step towards life on Mars? Lichens survive Martian simulation in new study
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
6d ago
For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that certain lichen species can survive Mars-like conditions, including exposure to ionizing radiation, while maintaining a metabolically active state ..read more
Visit website
NASA's Curiosity rover has found the longest chain carbon molecules yet on Mars
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
1w ago
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has detected the largest organic (carbon-containing) molecules ever found on the red planet. The discovery is one of the most significant findings in the search for evidence of past life on Mars. This is because, on Earth at least, relatively complex, long-chain of carbon molecules are involved in biology. These molecules could actually be fragments of fatty acids, which are found in, for example, the membranes surrounding biological cells ..read more
Visit website
Could Venus host life? The Venus life equation can help us find out
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
1w ago
What drives us to send probes throughout the solar system and rovers and landers to Mars? It's not cheap, and it's not easy. It's because we live inside a big, natural puzzle, and we want to understand it. That's one reason. But the main reason for space exploration is to search for life beyond Earth. That our planet could be the only planet to host life is a disquieting thought ..read more
Visit website
Experiment shows theory describing formation of interstellar benzene does not actually produce benzene
Phys.org » Astrobiology
by
1w ago
Astrophysicists at the University of Colorado's JILA, National Institute of Science and Technology, have conducted an experiment to produce benzene the way theories have predicted it is produced in interstellar space and found it did not produce any benzene. The research by G. S. Kocheril, C. Zagorec-Marks and H. J. Lewandowski is published in the journal Nature Astronomy ..read more
Visit website

Follow Phys.org » Astrobiology on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR