Did the Seeds of Life Ride to Earth Inside an Asteroid?
Nearly a hundred different types of amino acids have been observed in meteorites, but only a dozen of the 20 that are essential…
Browsing Tag
astrobiology
Why the Search for Life in Space Starts With Ancient Earth
Next, they’ll use the spectrograph to try to find key molecules like oxygen or methane. How much they find of each determines what…
The Spooky Science of How Undead Spores Reanimate
Here’s a spooky conundrum: Is a spore alive or dead?Gürol Süel, a biologist at the University of California, San Diego, wouldn’t…
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Digs Up Organic Molecules on Mars
After trundling around the Jezero crater for 550 Martian days, NASA’s Perseverance rover has amassed nearly half its planned rock…
The Legendary Frank Drake Shaped the Search for Alien Life
Frank Drake, a leading figure in planetary astronomy and astrobiology who inspired the search for extraterrestrial intelligence,…
Life Helps Make Almost Half of All Minerals on Earth
“Each one of those kinds of pyrite is telling us something different about our planet, its origin, about life, and how it’s…
Why the Search for Life on Mars Is Happening in Canada’s Arctic
Only the hardiest organisms can thrive in one of the coldest springs on earth. That’s why in the summers of 2017 and 2019, Lyle…
Could Life Use a Longer Genetic Code? Maybe, but It’s Unlikely
As wildly diverse as life on Earth is—whether it’s a jaguar hunting down a deer in the Amazon, an orchid vine spiraling around a…
Scientists Trying To Signal To Extraterrestrials
In this 30 second exposure, a meteor streaks across the sky during the annual Perseid meteor shower, Wednesday, Aug. 11, 2021, in…
Get Ready for a Decade of Uranus Jokes
For the past couple of decades, NASA has been investing in spacecraft to conduct up-close examinations of Mercury, Venus, Mars,…