"I assume that red sand on Earth is due to the presence of iron and oxygen, so why is Mars red?"
Content with the tag: “extremophiles”
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Outer Space Oreos
Scientists have previously exposed organisms and biomolecules to the many rigors of space, but those experiments only managed to take “before” and “after” pictures of their samples. A planned small satellite will monitor on a continuous basis the negative effects of space on biology. The upcoming O/OREOS mission will be the first demonstration flight of the ASTID small payloads initiative.
Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
May 7, 2009 / Written by: Michael Schirber
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Program Solicitation in Antarctic Research
The National Science Foundation (
Antarctica has long been a research site of interest for astrobiologists. The continent supports a range of unique organisms that can survive...March 12, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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Opportunities in Microbial Genome Sequencing
Microbial Genome Sequencing Program, Fiscal Year 2009
The National Science Foundation has released details on the final year of the Microbial Genome Sequencing Program. This interagency program supports genome sequencing of microorganisms and the metagenomes of mixed microbial communities. One major goal is to make novel genome sequences more valuable to the research community.
By studying genome sequences, researchers can gain valuable insight into how microorganisms function, live and interact with their environments. This information is invaluable for astrobiologists studying the potential for life on other celestial bodies in the solar system. Investigators in the program are focused on topics...Source: [NSF]
January 26, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal -
Life in Transition
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a new initiative from the Biological Sciences Directorate to support emerging interdisciplinary research at the intersection of the life and physical sciences. The program will focus particularly on the fundamental questions of ‘Life in Transition’, including areas relevant to the goals of astrobiology. These areas include “how the living world has and is adapting to and transforming the Earth’s climate, the diverse strategies by which living systems obtain and use energy, and life’s origins and indispensable properties.“
Target and deadline dates for proposals are...Source: [NSF]
January 22, 2009 / Posted by: Aaron Gronstal
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Life's Boiling Point
Some proteins can work above the boiling point of water, but these vital biomolecules may have a harder time evolving at high temperature. A new project is searching for the maximum temperature for protein-based life.
Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
November 11, 2008 / Written by: Michael Schirber
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"Alien" Water Bears Amaze Scientists
Tardigrades, commonly known as “water bears”, have been reared under laboratory conditions and subjected to a barrage of tests. Their survivability shows that animals can survive extreme conditions, and also may indicate how humans could adapt to the rigors of space.Source: [Astrobiology Magazine]
October 16, 2008 / Written by: Lee Pullen
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Can the Martian Arctic Support Extreme Life?
ABC.com features NASA’s Phoenix lander and the search for life on Mars in a new article on their Technology and Science website. Harkening back to Viking, and citing new discoveries of microbes in Greenland’s glaciers, the article focuses on the need to understand the microbiology of Earth’s extreme environments in order to best search for life on other planets.
Source: [ABC]
June 25, 2008 / Posted by: Daniella Scalice
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How Low Can Geologists Go?
Scientists have begun the final leg of a five-year, NASA-funded mission to reach the bottom of Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, the world’s deepest known sinkhole.
No one has ever reached bottom and at least one diver has died in the attempt. Scientists want to learn more about Cenote Zacatón’s physical dimensions, the geothermal vents that feed it and the forms of life that exist in its murky depths.
Previous expeditions tested the robotic probe that will make the dive. The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer, known as DEPTHX, is a tangerine-shaped submarine designed to survey...
November 13, 2007 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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Microbes of the Deep
In this week’s Science, researchers from NAI’s Indiana, Princeton, Tennessee Astrobiology Initiative (IPTAI) and Carnegie Institution of Washington Teams report that they have found an extant microbial biome at 2.8km depth in a South African mine. Analyses showed thermophilic sulfate reducers existing “with no apparent reliance on photosynthetically derived substrates.”
Source: [Link]
October 19, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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NAI Scientists Successfully Drill into Subglacial Lake
Last month, scientists from NAI’s University of Hawai’i Team, in collaboration with Icelandic research institutes, successfully drilled into and sampled a lake deep beneath a glacier in Iceland. The lake and other subglacial lakes are the focus of studies of life in “extreme environments,” and may resemble potential habitats on Mars and icy satellites in the outer Solar System
Source: [Link]
July 6, 2006 / Posted by: Shige Abe
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Going Deep
Some of the most arresting images of life on our planet have come from the deep-sea world of hydrothermal vents. Massive chimneys belching superheated fluids, colonies of giant crimson-tipped tubeworms swaying in the current, swarms of tiny shrimp, albino crabs. These ecosystems, although isolated from life on the surface, contain a virtual zoo of creatures, thriving under conditions of heat and pressure so extreme that, until the vent communities were discovered in the late 1970s, scientists did not even imagine that they existed.
Perhaps even more fascinating – at least to biologists – has been the cataloging of the microbial...
March 30, 2006 / Posted by: Yael Kovo
Biological potential of Mars
Chemistry and biology of ultramafic-hosted alkaline springs
Examination of the Microbial Diversity Found in Ice Cores (Brenchley)
Functional Genomics of Thioredoxins in Halobacterium sp. NRC-1
Interplanetary Pioneers
Microbial diversity and population structure studies in the Rio Tinto
Planetary Habitability
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