Titan First

Robert Shapiro (New York University) and Dirk Schulze-Makuch (Washington State University)

The Titan Saturn System Mission is planned to consist of a NASA orbiter, an ESA lander and a research balloon. Artist's image shows lander on one of Titan's hydrocarbon lakes with Saturn in the background.

We have written a paper “The Search for...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/titan-first/

Comment on Titan First

Andrew Pohorille (NASA-Ames)

Membranous vesicles that self-assemble in water from soap-like molecules extracted from the Murchison carbonaceous meteorite (courtesy of David Deamer). Besides water only very few other liquids have some capabilities to promote the formation of boundary structures.

In their recent, interesting paper, Robert Shapiro and Dirk Schulze-Makuch argue that Titan is the...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/comment-on-titan-first/

Program Solicitation in Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a program solicitation for research in sedimentary geology and paleobiology....

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/program-solicitation-in-sedimentary-geology-and-paleobiology/

NAI Team Seminars Recorded and Available Online

A series of virtual seminars highlighting the work of the NAI’s fourteen teams concluded on April 27, 2009....

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/nai-team-seminars-recorded-and-available-online/

Outer Space Oreos

Scientists have previously exposed organisms and biomolecules to the many rigors of space, but those experiments only managed to take...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/outer-space-oreos/

NAI Ames Research Center Team Launches New Website

The NAI Ames Research Center Team announces the launch of their new website at http://www.amesteam.arc.nasa.gov. The...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/nai-ames-research-center-team-launches-new-website/

Darwin in a Test Tube

Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute have discovered a way to make molecules evolve and compete according to the laws...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/darwin-in-a-test-tube/

Reflections of Chirality as a Possible Biomarker

Scientists have come up with a novel way to detect life on other planets. Rather than try to measure the...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/reflections-of-chirality-as-a-possible-biomarker/

Student Astronomers Earn Top Honors in State Science Fair

NAI’s University of Hawai’i Team has conducted the Hawai’i Student-Teacher Astronomy Research (HI STAR) program for the...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/student-astronomers-earn-top-honors-in-state-science-fair/

Reanimating Extinct Genes

Can evolution be played over again in the lab? A group of researchers plans to insert an ancient gene in...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/reanimating-extinct-genes/

Planetary Science Decadal Survey

Dear Colleague:

This is the first of what will be a regular series of newsletters to the astrobiology community...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/planetary-science-decadal-survey/

NASA's Kepler Captures First Views of Planet-Hunting Territory

NASA’s Kepler mission has taken its first images of the star-rich sky where it will soon...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/nasas-kepler-captures-first-views-of-planet-hunting-territory/

Life at Blood Falls

Researchers from NASA’s Exobiology Program and colleagues have discovered an unmapped reservoir of briny liquid buried under...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/life-at-blood-falls/

Evidence for the Great Oxidation Event Challenged

The timing of the rise of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere is a key question in astrobiology. It is coupled...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/evidence-for-the-great-oxidation-event-challenged/

Program Solicitation in Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has released a program solicitation in Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry. The program...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/program-solicitation-in-geobiology-and-low-temperature-geochemistry/

NASA Astrobiology Website is Official Webby Honoree

The NASA Astrobiology Program website has been selected as an Official Honoree...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/nasa-astrobiology-website-is-official-webby-honoree/

Elemental Evolution

Ariel Anbar of NAI’s ASU Team share his thoughts on fossils, Star Trek, and life on Mars with...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/elemental-evolution/

The state of Astrobiology: From the President of the International Society for Studying the Origins of Life (ISSOL)

As the incoming president for the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, I was...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/the-state-of-astrobiology-from-the-president-of-the-international-society-for-studying-the-origins-of-life-issol/

Alien Safari Part 7: Counting on Contact

At the most recent NASA Astrobiology Science Conference, a panel of scientists discussed different types of planets where we...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/alien-safari-part-7-counting-on-contact/

Invisible Yellowstone

Research conducted in Yellowstone National Park by astrobiologists from NAI’s Montana State Team is highlighted in the...

http://astrobiology.nasa.gov/articles/invisible-yellowstone/