"Why does nature use only one ‘handedness’ for organic molecules but both ‘hands’ for inorganic ones? "
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NASA Chooses MAVEN as the Next Mars Scout Mission
NASA has selected a Mars robotic mission that will provide information about the Red Planet’s atmosphere, climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before.
Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013. The selection was evaluated to have the best science value and lowest implementation risk from 20 mission investigation proposals submitted in response to a
September 15, 2008 / Written by: NASA Press Release
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NASA's Carl Sagan Fellows to Study Extraterrestrial Worlds
NASA announced Wednesday the new Carl Sagan Postdoctoral Fellowships in Exoplanet Exploration, created to inspire the next generation of explorers seeking to learn more about planets, and possibly life, around other stars.
Planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, are being discovered at a staggering pace, with more than 300 currently known. Decades ago, long before any exoplanets had been found, the late Carl Sagan imagined such worlds, and pioneered the scientific pursuit...
September 8, 2008 / Written by: NASA Press Release
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Looking for Life on Mars – in a Canadian Lake
On the surface, Pavilion Lake, nestled among the peaks of Canada’s Marble Range, looks like a thousand other mountain lakes. It’s not unusually large or deep. It’s not especially acidic, or...
September 8, 2008 / Written by: Henry Bortman
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Mars Research in Polar Bear Country
New from the Nordic issue of Astrobiology Magazine, European Edition: An interview with Hans Amundsen, the expedition leader of AMASE (Arctic Mars Analog Svalbard Expedition). AMASE scientists travel to a group of islands in the High Arctic in order to conduct Mars-related field research.
September 3, 2008 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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Iron Isotope Record Reflects Microbial Metabolism Through Time
NAI’s University of Wisconsin team presents a review of iron isotope fingerprints created through biogeochemical cycling in the May, 2008 issue of Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. This landmark paper brings together for the first time the co-evolution records of photosynthesis, bacterial sulfate reduction, and bacterial iron reduction in the early Earth. They review data on natural systems and experiments, looking at both abiological and biological processes, and conclude that the temporal carbon, sulfur,...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Silicate Mineralogy on Mars Indicates Wet Past
Using data from the CRISM instrument on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, astrobiologists from NAI’s SETI Institute and Marine Biological Laboratory teams present findings of silicate mineralogy indicating a wide range of past aqueous activity in the Mawrth Vallis on Mars. This work, published in the August 8 issue of Science, suggests that abundant water was once present on Mars and that hydrothermal activity may have occurred. The...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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Jack Hills Zircons: New Information About Earth's Earliest Crust
Members of NAI’s University of Wisconsin, Madison team have a new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters presenting their analyses of 4.35 – 3.36 billion year old detrital zircons from the Jack Hills, Western Australia. Their data reveal relatively high lithium abundances compared to other zircons, as well as lithium isotope ratios that are similar to continental crust weathering products rather than ocean floor basalts. The results support the hypothesis that continental-type crust and oceans existed...
August 27, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
Astrobiology Field Work
Rollover map to explore Astrobiology field sites around the world.
