https://phys.org/space-news/astrobiology en-us Astrobiology news stories about origin and evolution of life in the Universe As the next generation of giant, high-powered observatories begin to come online, a new study suggests that their instruments may offer scientists an unparalleled opportunity to discern what weather may be like on far-away exoplanets. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-cosmic-weather-worlds-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 27 Jul 2023 14:55:17 EDT news609688513 Scientists have devised a new technique for finding and vetting possible radio signals from other civilizations in our galaxy—a major advance in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) that will significantly boost confidence in any future detection of alien life. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-spoofed.html Astronomy Astrobiology Mon, 17 Jul 2023 14:47:04 EDT news608824021 A new study featuring data from the NASA Mars Perseverance rover reports on an instrumental detection potentially consistent with organic molecules on the Martian surface, hinting toward past habitability of the Red Planet. The research, led by a team of scientists that includes UF astrobiologist Amy Williams, was recently published in the journal Nature. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-reveals-evidence-diverse-material-mars.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:25:04 EDT news608473501 A new analysis shows that there are probably many more Earth-like exoplanets with liquid water than had been thought, significantly increasing the chance of finding life. The work finds that even where the conditions are not ideal for liquid water to exist at the surface of a planet, many stars will harbor geological conditions suitable for liquid water under the planet's surface. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-probability-worlds-fold.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 10 Jul 2023 18:00:25 EDT news608198158 Avi Loeb, a physicist from Harvard University in the US, has recovered 50 tiny spherical iron fragments from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean that he claims may be material from an interstellar alien spaceship. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-physicist-spherical-meteor-fragments-alien.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 10 Jul 2023 12:52:30 EDT news608212344 A study led by Brown University researchers offers new insights into how water from melting ice could have played a recent role in the formation of ravine-like channels that cut down the sides of impact craters on Mars. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-gullies-mars-periods-liquid-meltwater.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 29 Jun 2023 14:00:02 EDT news607252305 Although technically challenging, space experiments are a scientifically important aspect of astrobiology and astrochemistry investigations. The international space station (ISS) offers an excellent example of a long-term research platform orbiting the Earth, with highly successful advances to implement experiments in space, which has contributed to a wealth of scientific data in the past few decades. Future space platforms present additional opportunities for experiments in astrobiology and astrochemistry. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-future-space-platforms-astrobiology-astrochemistry.html Space Exploration Astrobiology Thu, 29 Jun 2023 09:43:10 EDT news607250585 A team of international scientists has used NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to detect a new carbon compound in space for the first time. Known as methyl cation (pronounced cat-eye-on) (CH3+), the molecule is important because it aids the formation of more complex carbon-based molecules. Methyl cation was detected in a young star system, with a protoplanetary disk, known as d203-506, which is located about 1,350 light-years away in the Orion Nebula. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-webb-crucial-carbon-molecule.html Astronomy Astrobiology Mon, 26 Jun 2023 13:02:03 EDT news607003321 How close can a rocky planet be to a star, and still sustain water and life? https://phys.org/news/2023-06-exoplanet-reveal-secrets-edge-habitability.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:43:54 EDT news606562997 Using data from the Spitzer space observatory, Dr. Susana Iglesias-Groth, a researcher from The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), has found evidence for the existence of the amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar material in a nearby star-forming region. The research is published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-evidence-amino-acid-tryptophan-space.html Astronomy Astrobiology Tue, 20 Jun 2023 09:33:29 EDT news606472407 The best hope for finding life on another world isn't listening for coded messages or traveling to distant stars, it's detecting the chemical signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres. This long hoped-for achievement is often thought to be beyond our current observatories, but a new study argues that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) could pull it off. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-webb-telescope-powerful-variety-biosignatures.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Mon, 19 Jun 2023 13:02:52 EDT news606398569 In a new report now published in npj Microgravity, Zachary Estlack and a research team in mechanical engineering and space sciences at the University of Utah and the University of California, Berkeley, developed a microfluidic organic analyzer to detect life signatures beyond Earth and to clinically monitor astronaut health. The team performed extensive environmental tests across diverse gravitational atmospheres to confirm the functionality of the analyzer and its level of technology readiness. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-microfluidics-space-extraterrestrial-life-signatures.html Space Exploration Astrobiology Thu, 15 Jun 2023 11:30:01 EDT news606040770 Harvard University led research may have solved the puzzle of how life became molecularly right-handed. In the paper, "Origin of biological homochirality by crystallization of an RNA precursor on a magnetic surface," published in Science Advances, the researchers explain how it all might have started with the right kind of rocks. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-right-handed-blocks-life-rocky.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 15 Jun 2023 10:30:01 EDT news606040739 Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth's early history, using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions that existed in early Earth, revealing a complex interplay between Earth's crust, core, and the emergence of life. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-plate-tectonics-required-emergence-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:40:54 EDT news605965248 A team of astronomers from the University of Washington, the SETI Institute, Yale University and Smith College is searching the vicinity of a new supernova in the spiral arms of the Pinwheel Galaxy hoping to find a signal from an alien civilization. In their paper posted on the arXiv preprint server, the research team suggests that because of its brightness and proximity, if aliens live in the vicinity, they might use it as a signal to get our attention. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-nearby-supernova-aliens-attention.html Astronomy Astrobiology Wed, 14 Jun 2023 12:37:35 EDT news605965050 The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system just got more exciting. A team of scientists including Southwest Research Institute's Dr. Christopher Glein has discovered new evidence that the subsurface ocean of Saturn's moon Enceladus contains a key building block for life. The team directly detected phosphorus in the form of phosphates originating from the moon's ice-covered global ocean using data from NASA's Cassini mission. Cassini explored Saturn and its system of rings and moons for over 13 years. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-key-block-life-saturn-moon.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 14 Jun 2023 11:55:49 EDT news605962545 When we walk around in our everyday life, we might not think of the Earth itself very often. But this planet is the foundation of our life. The air we breathe, the water we drink and the gravity that pins us to the ground. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-earth-faster-thought.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 14 Jun 2023 11:55:25 EDT news605962521 A team of chemists, biologists and planetary scientists from MIT, Nanoplanet Consulting, Harvard University and the University of Alberta has found via lab experimentation that conditions in Venus' clouds are possibly conducive to hosting life. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes experiments they conducted in their lab and their results. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-venus-sulfuric-acid-clouds-cool.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 14 Jun 2023 10:11:28 EDT news605956282 Imagine the possibility of life forms on other planets that don't resemble any on Earth. What might they look like, and why would they be so different? https://phys.org/news/2023-06-synthetic-species-biochemistry-darwinian-evolutionary.html Astrobiology Wed, 07 Jun 2023 09:49:05 EDT news605350136 Researchers have detected complex organic molecules in a galaxy more than 12 billion light-years away from Earth—the most distant galaxy in which these molecules are now known to exist. Thanks to the capabilities of the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope and careful analyses from the research team, a new study lends critical insight into the complex chemical interactions that occur in the first galaxies in the early universe. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-webb-space-telescope-universe-distant.html Astronomy Astrobiology Mon, 05 Jun 2023 12:26:04 EDT news605186761 The Breakthrough Listen Investigation for Periodic Spectral Signals (BLIPSS), led by Akshay Suresh, Cornell doctoral candidate in astronomy, is pioneering a search for periodic signals emanating from the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The research aims to detect repetitive patterns, a way to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) within our cosmic neighborhood. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-software-stars.html Astronomy Astrobiology Tue, 30 May 2023 15:24:03 EDT news604679041 Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and Ludwig Maximilians University Munich have proposed a new scenario for the emergence of the first building blocks for life on Earth, roughly 4 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-role-meteoritic-iron-emergence-life.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 25 May 2023 11:00:14 EDT news604052659 Precursors of the molecules needed for the origin of life may have been generated by chemical reactions promoted by iron-rich particles from meteors or volcanic eruptions on Earth approximately 4.4 billion years ago, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-meteoritic-volcanic-particles-life-reactions.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 25 May 2023 11:00:11 EDT news604228560 Lightning's role in making nitrogen available for life on Earth may have been relatively short-lived, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of St Andrews Centre for Exoplanet Science. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-life-earth-quickly-independent-lightning.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 23 May 2023 13:05:04 EDT news604065902 Imagine an Earth-sized planet that's not at all Earth-like. Half this world is locked in permanent daytime, the other half in permanent night, and it's carpeted with active volcanoes. Astronomers have discovered that planet. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-astronomers-alternative-earth-volcanoes.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Wed, 17 May 2023 11:23:04 EDT news603541381 An international team of astronomers reports the detection of a new "super-Earth" exoplanet using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The newfound alien world, designated TOI-244 b, turns out to have an unusually low density. The finding was reported in a paper published May 8 on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-astronomers-unusually-low-density-super-earth.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 16 May 2023 09:52:38 EDT news603449551 New images taken by NASA's Perseverance rover may show signs of what was once a rollicking river on Mars, one that was deeper and faster-moving than scientists have ever seen evidence for in the past. The river was part of a network of waterways that flowed into Jezero Crater, the area the rover has been exploring since landing more than two years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-images-nasa-perseverance-wild-martian.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Thu, 11 May 2023 13:51:03 EDT news603031857 The first building blocks of life on Earth may have formed thanks to eruptions from our sun, a new study finds. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-stormy-sun-kickstarted-life-earth.html Astrobiology Planetary Sciences Tue, 02 May 2023 14:43:04 EDT news602257381 Aliens on nearby stars could detect Earth through radio signals leaked from the planet, new research suggests. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-advanced-aliens-life-earth-scientists.html Astronomy Astrobiology Tue, 02 May 2023 12:53:35 EDT news602250811 The search for radio signals from extraterrestrial civilizations has yet to yield evidence of alien technological activity. Research carried out at EPFL suggests we continue searching while optimizing the use of available resources. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-silence-reveals-insights-extraterrestrial-life.html Astronomy Astrobiology Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:07:03 EDT news601891621