Panspermia
How Oumuamua Changes Our Perspective on Galactic Panspermia
Panspermia is an innately attractive idea that's gained prominence in recent decades. Yet, among working scientists, it gets little attention.…
Cosmic Dust Could Spread Life from World to World Across the Galaxy
Does life appear independently on different planets in the galaxy? Or does it spread from world to world? Or does…
Since Interstellar Objects Crashed Into Earth in the Past, Could They Have Brought Life?
On October 19th, 2017, astronomers with the Pan-STARRS survey detected an interstellar object (ISO) passing through our Solar System for…
Could Life Exist in Molecular Clouds?
Our search for life beyond Earth is still in its infancy. We're focused on Mars and, to a lesser extent,…
We Could Spread Life to the Milky Way With Comets. But Should We?
Here's a thorny problem: What if life doesn't always appear on planets that can support it? What if we find…
All Five of Life's Informational Components can Form in Space
A new analysis of meteorite samples has found the building blocks of life that have eluded scientists so far.
A Mars Meteorite Shows Evidence of a Massive Impact Billions of Years ago
Researchers at Australia’s Curtin University have discovered evidence of a massive impact on the Martian surface after 4.45 billion years…
Galactic Panspermia. How far Could Life Spread Naturally in a Galaxy Like the Milky Way?
Can life spread throughout a galaxy like the Milky Way without technological intervention? That question is largely unanswered. A new…
Earth’s toughest bacteria can survive unprotected in space for at least a year
A remarkable microbe named Deinococcus radiodurans (the name comes from the Greek deinos meaning terrible, kokkos meaning grain or berry,…
A Microorganism With a Taste for Meteorites Could Help us Understand the Formation of Life on Earth
A new study by a team astrobiologists shows how certain types of extreme bacteria thrive on meteors, which could reveal…