Spelunking on Mars? I’m sure it could be fascinating, but it bears keeping in mind that environment doesn’t produce life.
Extraterrestrial life
At Quanta Magazine: A Dream of Discovering Alien Life Finds New Hope
This very extensive article provides some informative insights into possible bio-signatures that astronomers would hope to see from an exoplanet that might indicate the presence of life.
At SciTech Daily: Traces of Ancient Ocean Discovered on Mars – This Means a “Higher Potential for Life”
“A major goal for the Mars Curiosity rover missions is to look for signs of life,” Cardenas said. “It’s always been looking for water, for traces of habitable life. This is the biggest one yet. It’s a giant body of water, fed by sediments coming from the highlands, presumably carrying nutrients.”
At Universe Today: Maybe We Don’t See Aliens Because Nobody Wants to Come Here
“For Hart, the only explanation for the lack of evidence of alien civilizations is that there are none.”
At Phys.org: NASA announces 16 people who will study UFOs to see what’s natural—and what isn’t
What would the UFO team decide if they were fed the genetic code from human DNA, perhaps disguised in a format that didn’t reveal it as such?
At Earth Sky: How likely is an Earth-like origin of life elsewhere?
Paul Scott Anderson writes: We know that life originated on Earth some 3.7 billion years ago. But we still don’t understand exactly how life came to be. Likewise, we know little to nothing about life on other rocky worlds, even those that might be similar to Earth. Is life a rare occurrence, or is it common? Or somewhere in Read More…
At Sci News: Mars was Habitable for Methanogenic Microorganisms 3.7 Billion Years Ago, Study Suggests
“The subsurface of Mars during the Noachian period was likely to have been habitable for microorganisms that feed on hydrogen and produce methane, according to new research.”
At Astronomy Now: Frank Drake, SETI pioneer, 1930–2022
Frank Drake, the radio astronomer who pioneered the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), died yesterday (2 September) at the age of 92. Born on 28 May 1930 in Chicago, Drake was working at the Green Bank Radio Telescope during the early days of radio astronomy, in the late 1950s, when he was inspired by Giuseppe Read More…
At Mind Matters News: News from the search for extraterrestrial life 2
One reason for hope for finding life elsewhere in the universe is that the universe appears to be fine-tuned for life. What the universe won’t do is tell us where the life is.
At Phys.org: Underwater snow gives clues about Europa’s icy shell
Researchers: “When we’re exploring Europa, we’re interested in the salinity and composition of the ocean, because that’s one of the things that will govern its potential habitability or even the type of life that might live there.”
At Mind Matters News: Exoplanets: Life forms made one third of Earth’s minerals
If life is “a cosmic imperative that emerges on any mineral- and water-rich world,” say the researchers, then life emerged early on Earth along with minerals.
Mars Curiosity Rover Collects Rock Samples Containing Key Ingredient Of Life
Rock samples collected from Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover have revealed signs of key ingredients of life, according to a statement by the agency.
From Science News: No signs (yet) of life on Venus
University of Cambridge researchers conclude, “The unusual behavior of sulphur in Venus’ atmosphere cannot be explained by an ‘aerial’ form of extra-terrestrial life, according to a new study.”
At Phys.org: NASA gets serious about UFOs
NASA is officially joining the hunt for UFOs. The space agency on Thursday announced a new study that will recruit leading scientists to examine unidentified aerial phenomena.
At Reasons to Believe: Could Life Be Silicon-Based?
Biochemist Fuz Rana discusses a 2020 review article published in the journal Life in which a team of astrobiologists from MIT present a detailed evaluation of silicon’s life-support capacity.