Putting blue-green algae in space teaches us how life responds to harsh environments A species of blue-green algae that can live in rocks could resist radiation and extreme space weather, and returned to Earth still viable!

October 25, 2020 by Rabeea Rasheed Read More

Could a Deadly Gas Be a Sign of Life? The presence of carbon monoxide on exoplanets is no longer a reason to discount the possibility of the presence of life.

October 22, 2020 by Emma Stefanacci Read More

Looking for life by looking for metabolism Metabolites like amino acids and lipids are potential biomarkers to guide life detection efforts beyond Earth

October 19, 2020 by Dana Burton Read More

NASA is sending yeast into deep space NASA will generate invaluable data on yeast’s response to deep space radiation by launching the BioSentinel satellite in 2021. Here’s how they’ll do it.

October 9, 2020 by Brooke Shepard Read More

There may be other ways to build DNA and RNA Researchers have made a synthetic DNA that is made of eight bases instead of the normal four. This genetic system was capable of supporting the requirements of life. This work lays the foundation of how life could look on a different world.

October 7, 2020 by Madeline Garner Read More

Growing plants on the surface of the Moon and Mars Researchers tested the growth of 10 different common food crops in simulated regolith, a rocky substance lacking organic material found on the surface of Mars and the Moon.

October 5, 2020 by Jéssica Carneiro Oliveira Read More

How stars can limit life in the universe For the past few decades, scientists have been looking at planets outside of our solar system to see if they could host life. Now, scientists have discovered another factor for habitability: radiation from the planet’s central star.

October 1, 2020 by Paulina Umansky Read More

Learning about space exploration motivates students to pursue science Implementing a program called Ad Astra Academy with students in disadvantaged communities in Rio de Janeiro resulted in increased passion and inspiration for science.

September 29, 2020 by Elisabeth Lee Read More

Could “Fools’ Gold” have helped assemble the building blocks of life? Scientists measured the forces that allow iron pyrite to help amino acids bind to each other at the bottom of the ocean -- to understand how life may have formed a long time ago.

September 21, 2020 by Marcos Jusino-Maldonado Read More

If there was oxygen on a far away planet, how would we know? Scientists use computer models to simulate what oxygen would look like on far away planets and found a chemical signature that helps us tell the difference between oxygen from life and oxygen from other sources.

September 15, 2020 by Caitlin MacArthur Read More