Life

Could Earth Life Survive on a Red Dwarf Planet?

Even though exoplanet science has advanced significantly in the last decade or two, we're still in an unfortunate situation. Scientists…

3 days ago

Cyborg Jellyfish Could Help Explore Oceans Autonomously

Earth's oceans are—like space—a largely unexplored frontier. Relatively few humans have explored either place, using specialized life-support equipment. Unlike space,…

1 week ago

Juno Measures How Much Oxygen is Being Produced by Europa

If the periodic table listed the elements in order of their importance to life, then oxygen might bully its way…

2 weeks ago

Cosmic Dust Could Have Helped Get Life Going on Earth

The early Earth didn't have many chemicals needed for life on its surface, but they were present in asteroids and…

3 weeks ago

Dying Stars Could Have Completely New Habitable Zones

Aging stars that become red giants increase their luminosity and can wreak havoc on planets that were once in the…

1 month ago

Cosmic Dust Could Spread Life from World to World Across the Galaxy

Does life appear independently on different planets in the galaxy? Or does it spread from world to world? Or does…

1 month ago

Could We Live Without Kilonovae?

It’s a classic statement shared at many public outreach events…’we are made of stardust’. It is true enough that the…

1 month ago

The Seeming Impossibility of Life

The number of near misses, false starts, and legitimate disasters that have befallen our species since the day we took…

2 months ago

The Improbable Origins of Life on Earth

We do not yet know how, where, or why life first appeared on our planet. Part of the difficulty is…

2 months ago

Early Life Was Radically Different Than Today

All modern life shares a robust, hardy, efficient system of intertwined chemicals that propagate themselves. This system must have emerged…

2 months ago