Astrobiology News

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide...

A team of biologists from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France has developed a scenario of what life on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon,...

Using advanced statistical modeling, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich, SETI Institute, the Università di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’ and the University...

The origin of life on Earth required a supply of phosphorus for the synthesis of universal biomolecules. Closed lakes may have accumulated high concentrations...

In 1983, the theoretical physicist Brandon Carter concluded that the time it took for humans to evolve on Earth — relative to the total lifespan...

White dwarfs may present amenable environments for life on planets formed within or migrated to their habitable zones, generating warmer surface environments...

Planetary researcher Tereza Constantinou and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge have examined the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere...

On Earth, solar radiation can transmit down to multiple meters within ice, depending on its optical properties. Organisms within ice can harness energy...

The TRAPPIST-1 system is a compact system of at least seven exoplanets with sizes similar to Earth. Penn State and SETI Institute astronomers spent 28...

Around a fifth of U.K. citizens believe Earth has been visited by extraterrestrials, and an estimated 7% believe that they have seen a UFO. The figures...

In a new paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, Dr. Ravi Kopparapu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and colleagues assessed the potential...

Europa and Enceladus are key targets to search for evidence of alien life in our Solar System. However, the surface and shallow subsurface of these airless...

Within the uncertainties of involved astronomical and biological parameters, the Drake equation typically predicts that there should be many exoplanets...

Ocean worlds are planetary bodies that have a liquid ocean, often under an icy shell or within the rocky interior. In our own Solar System, several moons...

The five artificial greenhouse gases identified by University of California, Riverside astrobiologist Edward Schwieterman and his colleagues would be detectable...

Fully understanding how a rocky planet becomes habitable and remains so is a fundamental challenge for planetary scientists and astrobiologists, given...

With more than 5,500 detected exoplanets, the search for life is entering a new era. Using life on Earth as a guide, astrobiologists from Cornell University...

Planetary scientists have long speculated about the potential habitability of Venus, not at its hot surface, but in the cloud layers located at 48-60 km...

Saturn’s moon Titan has an organic-rich atmosphere and surface with a subsurface ocean that may represent a habitable environment. In a new study, astrobiologists...