Page 3 - Astrobiology Program News Today

Acidic lakes said to mimic conditions on ancient Mars 

Today, the colorless and deadly gas cyanide is known as a fast-acting poison and a chemical weapon. Four billion years ago, however, it may have been

Shifting the search for extraterrestrial life from biological to technological signs could break us out of anthropocentrism and help guide humanity's future.

NASA scientists are calling for a new seven-step framework on how to corroborate claims of life beyond Earth and make it less of a binary yes or no option.

A team of NASA scientists has come up with a framework that people can use to put "signs of alien life" discoveries into a realistic context.

The NASA group envisioned a scale informed by decades of experience in astrobiology - an interdisciplinary scientific field dedicated to the understanding of... 29.10.2021, Sputnik International

From stardust to pale blue dot: Carbon’s interstellar journey to Earth We are made of stardust, the saying goes, and a pair of studies including University of Michigan research finds that may be more true than we previously thought. The first study, led by U-M researcher Jie (Jackie) Li and published in Science Advances, finds that most of the carbon on Earth was likely delivered from the interstellar medium, the material that exists in space between stars in a galaxy. This likely happened we...

Atmospheric pollution could be the sign of advanced extraterrestrial civilization This study is the first time pollution has been examined as a possible technosignature. Artist’s illustration of a technologically advanced exoplanet. The colors are exaggerated to show the industrial pollution, which otherwise is not visible. Credits: NASA/Jay Freidlander Nitrogen dioxide is part of a group of gaseous air pollutants produced due to road traffic and other fossil fuel combustion processes. In the...

Purported phosphine on Venus is more likely to be ordinary sulfur dioxide, a new study shows. In September, a team led by astronomers in the United Kingdom announced that they had detected the chemical phosphine in the thick clouds of Venus. The team’s reported detection, based on observations from two Earth-based radio telescopes, surprised many Venus experts. Earth’s atmosphere contains small amounts of phosphine, which may be produced by life. Phosphine on Venus generated buzz that the p...

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech In September, a team led by astronomers in the United Kingdom announced that they had detected the chemical phosphine in the thick clouds of Venus. The teams reported detection, based on observations by two Earth-based radio telescopes, surprised many Venus experts. Earths atmosphere contains small amounts of phosphine, which may be produced by life. Phosphine on Venus generated buzz that the planet, often succinctly touted as a "hellscape," could somehow harbor life wi...