Astrobiology News

Apr 17, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere of the super-Earth exoplanet K2-18b. On Earth, DMS and DMDS are only produced by life, primarily microbial life such as marine phytoplankton. While an unknown chemical process may be the source of these molecules in K2-18b’s atmosphere, the results are the strongest evidence...

Apr 8, 2025 by News Staff

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,...

Apr 7, 2025 by News Staff

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

Mar 26, 2025 by News Staff

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

Feb 18, 2025 by News Staff

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

Feb 13, 2025 by News Staff

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

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

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

Oct 17, 2024 by News Staff

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

Oct 16, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Sep 3, 2024 by The Conversation

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...

Aug 2, 2024 by News Staff

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

Jul 18, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Jul 2, 2024 by News Staff

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

Jun 25, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Jun 25, 2024 by News Staff

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

Apr 23, 2024 by News Staff

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

Apr 17, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Mar 20, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Feb 20, 2024 by News Staff

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...

Feb 13, 2024 by News Staff

Technosignatures are any measurable property that may provide evidence of extraterrestrial technology. The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)...