NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Kepler's Search for "Alien Earths" Covered by CNN

NASA’s Kepler mission, which will search for Earth-like planets in our galaxy, launches next week. CNN.com has the full story, including a special video interview with the mission’s Principal Investigator, Bill Borucki.

February 25, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Evolution of the Modern Nitrogen Cycle

NAI’s Deep Time Drilling Project supported the drilling of several pristine cores from ancient rocks in Western Australia in 2004, and a new paper in this week’s Science, led by University of Washington astrobiologists, outlines results from the analysis of these cores. The nitrogen isotope values in the core from the 2.5-billion-year-old Mount McRae Shale vary over 30 meters, evidently recording a temporary change from an anaerobic to an aerobic nitrogen cycle, and back again to anaerobic. Other data suggest that nitrification occurred in response to a small increase in surface-ocean oxygenation. The...

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February 23, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

A Natural Iron Fertilization Mechanism from the Deep Sea

The amount of iron released to the ocean by hydrothermal venting at the seafloor is approximately equal to all of the iron flushed from the continents by rivers. The importance of iron to aquatic life can be compared to the importance of nitrogen to terrestrial life, yet iron remains a limiting nutrient in most parts of the oceans. A new study of iron within hydrothermal vents shows that iron emitted from the vents can bind to organic particles and be distributed within the oceans. This bound iron doesn’t oxidize, and is much more easily processed...

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February 10, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Life in Extreme Environments Educator Conference

The Life in Extreme Environments Educator Conference, hosted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Education Office, was held on January 24-25, 2009 in JPL’s von Kármán auditorium. E/PO Leads from NAI’s teams at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, JPL-Titan, and JPL-Icy Worlds participated in producing the event. Eighty-one educators attended.

The program included an introduction to astrobiology, as well as more detailed presentations outlining astrobiology research into extrasolar planet habitability, pre-biotic chemistry, spectral “bio”signatures, and planetary protection. NAI educational materials were distributed.

The conference also served as a platform from which to test a remote...

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February 9, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

The Science of NAI - Overview Presentations Available as Podcasts

At last week’s NAI Executive Council meeting, each of NAI’s Principal Investigators delivered presentations outlining the science of their teams. Those presentations are now available as downloadable podcasts from the NAI website.

February 6, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Oldest Evidence for Animals in the Fossil Record

Detected through their molecular remains, fossils of early sponges have been observed in ancient rocks in Oman. The fossils occur in strata that underlie a cap carbonate dated at >635 million years ago. This discovery suggests that shallow waters contained dissolved oxygen in concentrations sufficient to support early animal life at least 100 million years before the Cambrian explosion. Members of NAI’s MIT team led the effort, and publish their findings in the current issue of Nature.

February 4, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice

Great Oxidation Event Got Earlier Start

NAI’s Archean Biosphere Drilling Project supported the drilling of several pristine cores from ancient rocks in Western Australia, with the goal of furthering our understanding of the atmosphere, oceans, climate, and biosphere of early Earth. A new paper in Earth and Planetary Science Letters from NAI’s Penn State Team outlines results from the analyses of these cores. Their studies evidence oxygenated surface environments, at least localized and/or short-lived, emerging more than 300 million years before the widely accepted Great Oxidation Event during 2.45 and 2.32 billion years ago. This implies that the...

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January 29, 2009 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice