Life

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

The Next Generation LIFE Telescope Could Detect Some Intriguing Biosignatures

JWST has shown that it can detect various chemicals in the atmospheres of other worlds, from water vapor to carbon…

2 months ago

NASA Selects New Technology to Help Search for Life on Mars

The day when human beings finally set foot on Mars is rapidly approaching. Right now, NASA, the China National Space…

2 months ago

Since Interstellar Objects Crashed Into Earth in the Past, Could They Have Brought Life?

On October 19th, 2017, astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey detected an interstellar object (ISO) passing through our Solar System for…

2 months ago

There are Mysteries at Venus. It’s Time for an Astrobiology Mission

When scientists detected phosphine in Venus' atmosphere in 2020, it triggered renewed, animated discussions about Venus and its potential habitability.…

3 months ago

Organic Molecules Come from the Universe’s Cold Places

Life, as we all know, is based on chemistry. Prebiotic chemical building blocks existed on our planet for a long…

3 months ago

Entropy is the Key to a Planet’s Habitability

We all know that to have life on a world, you need three critical items: water, warmth, and food. Now…

4 months ago

Could Life Exist in Molecular Clouds?

Our search for life beyond Earth is still in its infancy. We're focused on Mars and, to a lesser extent,…

4 months ago

Even Tiny Amounts of DNA on Mars Will Be Detectable

The Search for Life is focused on the search for biosignatures. Planetary life leaves a chemical fingerprint on a planet's…

6 months ago