Astrobiology News

Wells et al estimate that there should be at least 10 -- currently undiscovered -- exoplanets which are favorably located to detect the Earth and are capable of sustaining life as we know it. Image credit: NASA.

Scientists Unveil Nature’s Missing Evolutionary Law

Oct 18, 2023 by News Staff

Physical laws — such as the laws of motion, gravity, electromagnetism, and thermodynamics — codify the general behavior of varied macroscopic...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 414 system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Novel AI Technique Reveals Sample’s Biological or Non-Biological Origin with 90% Accuracy

Sep 26, 2023 by News Staff

The search for definitive biosignatures — unambiguous markers of past or present life — is a central goal of paleobiology and astrobiology....

CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. Image credit: Shaun Amy.

Novel SETI Technique Filters Out Earth Interference to Focus on Alien Technosignatures

Jul 18, 2023 by News Staff

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) aims to answer one of the most important scientific questions: are we alone in the Universe? Complementing...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

Astronomers Simulate Message from Extraterrestrial Civilization to Earth

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

On May 24, 2023, as part of the A Sign in Space project, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded message to Earth to simulate...

NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is collecting data that astronomers will analyze for the type of emissions that only artificial transmitters make. Image credit: VLA / SETI.

VLA to Search for Radio Signals from Alien Civilizations

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), a powerful radio telescope situated about 80.5 km (50 miles) west of Socorro, New Mexico, is joining the...

Zhang et al used artificial intelligence to search through radio signals recorded from FRB 121102. Image credit: Breakthrough Listen Initiative.

Study: Earth’s Mobile Tower Leakage Could Not Be Detected by Nearby Earth-Like Civilizations

May 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mobile communication towers represent a relatively new but growing contributor to the total radio-leakage associated with planet Earth. In new research,...

An artist’s impression of the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope receiving signals from space. Image credit: Danielle Futselaar / Breakthrough Listen.

Artificial Intelligence Detects New Technosignature Signals of Interest

Jan 31, 2023 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, astronomers with Breakthrough Listen Initiative — the largest ever scientific research...

An artist’s impression of NASA’s Cassini spacecraft flying through plumes erupting from the south pole of Enceladus; these plumes are much like geysers and expel a combination of water vapor, ice grains, salts, methane and other organic molecules. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Detecting Extraterrestrial Life on Enceladus Could Be Achieved without Landing: Study

Jan 2, 2023 by News Staff

Enceladus, the sixth-biggest moon of Saturn, is a top candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life in the Solar System. An artist’s impression of...

This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about 4 billion years ago. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Chances of Finding Ancient Bacteria on Mars are Better than Previously Expected: Study

Oct 27, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Radiation resistance of microbes is a key parameter in considering survivability of microbes over geologic times on the frigid, arid surface of Mars that...

An UAP from a declassified video captured by a U.S. Navy aircraft. Image credit: U.S. Navy.

NASA Kicks Off Study on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

Oct 25, 2022 by News Staff

Unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), popularly known as UFOs, are of interest for both national security and air safety and NASA’s independent study...

An artist’s impression of a habitable planetary system. Image credit: Sci.News.

Technosignatures Could Be How We First Find Extraterrestrial Life, Astronomers Say

Oct 24, 2022 by The Conversation

Penn State astronomers Macy Huston and Jason Wright work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). They try to characterize and detect technosignatures...

This is an artist's impression of an exoplanet. Image credit: Ron Miller.

Astrobiologists Identify Novel Biosignature Candidates: Methylated Gases

Oct 11, 2022 by News Staff

Methylated gases are made when organisms add a carbon and three hydrogen atoms to an undesirable chemical element. Called methylation, this process can...

The young Mars would have had enough water to cover its entire surface in a liquid layer about 140 m deep, but it is more likely that the liquid would have pooled to form an ocean occupying almost half of Mars’s northern hemisphere, and in some regions reaching depths greater than 1.6 km. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Mars was Habitable for Methanogenic Microorganisms 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests

Oct 10, 2022 by News Staff

The subsurface of Mars during the Noachian period was likely to have been habitable for microorganisms that feed on hydrogen and produce methane, according...

An artist’s impression of an extrasolar submoon. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Nitrous Oxide Could Help Detect Extraterrestrial Life on Exo-Earths

Oct 5, 2022 by News Staff

Nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas) — a product of microbial nitrogen metabolism — is a compelling exoplanet biosignature gas with distinctive...

Venus in real colors, processed from Mariner 10 images. Image credit: Mattias Malmer / NASA.

Sulfur-Metabolizing Aerial Life Cannot Explain Composition of Venus’ Atmosphere, Scientists Say

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

In new research, a team of scientists at the University of Cambridge has tested the ‘life in the Venusian clouds’ hypothesis. Jordan et al. demonstrate...

NASA Creates Independent Team to Study UAPs

Jun 9, 2022 by News Staff

NASA’s independent study team will examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) from a scientific perspective. It will focus on identifying available...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Cosmic Hitchhikers: Advanced Aliens Might Use Free-Floating Exoplanets for Interstellar Travel

May 30, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology, Houston Community College researcher Irina Romanovskaya proposes that free-floating...

An artist’s impression of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Methane in Exoplanetary Atmosphere Could Be Sign of Extrarerrestrial Life

Mar 30, 2022 by News Staff

The case for methane as a biosignature stems from its instability in the planet’s atmosphere. Because photochemical reactions destroy atmospheric methane,...

Coelho et al. provide a guide for the search for surface life on icy worlds based on biota from Earth’s icy environments. Image credit: Jack Madden.

Astrobiologists Create Catalog of Icy World Surface Biosignatures

Mar 15, 2022 by News Staff

With thousands of discovered exoplanets and new missions that will explore our Solar System, the search for life in the Universe has entered a new era....