Breakthrough Results In Astrobiology: Is ‘High Risk’ Research Needed?
Astrobiology is a scientific endeavour involving great uncertainties. This could justify intellectual risk-taking associated with research that significantly deviates from the mainstream, to explore...
View ArticleDeconstructing Alien Hunting
The search for extraterrestrial (alien) life is one of the greatest scientific quests yet raises fundamental questions about just what we should be looking for and how. We approach alien hunting from...
View ArticleWhat Was The Earliest Mention Of Astrobiology On TV?
The earliest TV mention of #astrobiology? Apparently it was on the #StarTrek episode “Return To Tomorrow“ which first aired on 9 Feb 1968: KIRK: “Who are you?”MULHALL: “Doctor Ann Mulhall,...
View ArticleLife On Other Planets: What Is Life And What Does It Need?
One day, perhaps in the not-too-distant future, a faraway planet could yield hints that it might host some form of life – but surrender its secrets reluctantly. Our space telescopes might detect a...
View ArticleFalse Positives And The Challenge Of Testing The Alien Hypothesis
The origin of life and the detection of alien life have historically been treated as separate scientific research problems. However, they are not strictly independent. Here, we discuss the need for a...
View ArticleSearching For Life In NASA’s Astrobiology Labs
Growing chemical gardens. Searching for life’s building blocks in meteorites. Sketching out a path to exotic life on a moon of Saturn. Interplanetary probes and space telescopes take the search for...
View ArticleSETI Institute Unveils Two Prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowships: The Baruch...
The SETI Institute announced today the establishment of a new postdoctoral research fellowship program funded by its transformative bequest from Qualcomm Co-founder, Franklin Antonio. The first two...
View ArticleThe Astrobiology Habitable Environments Database (AHED) and the Astrobiology...
The interdisciplinary nature of astrobiology presents challenges to data management, integration, and analysis because of its great diversity. Each investigation produces a unique set of data products,...
View ArticleFinding Life Beyond Earth: What Comes Next?
The future is full of questions for us earthly life-forms. How far can we take our search for life elsewhere? Which new technologies are best for detecting life? Could we ever visit planets beyond our...
View ArticleIs The Apparent Absence Of Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations Down...
The ‘Fermi paradox’ refers to the mismatch between a widely held expectation that advanced technological life should be common in the Universe—recently given impetus by the discovery that other...
View ArticleIs the Emergence Of Life An Expected Phase Transition In The Evolving Universe?
We propose a novel definition of life in terms of which its emergence in the universe is expected, and its ever-creative open-ended evolution is entailed by no law. Living organisms are Kantian Wholes...
View ArticleFuture Of The Search For Life: Workshop Report
The 2-week, virtual Future of the Search for Life science and engineering workshop brought together more than 100 scientists, engineers, and technologists in March and April 2022 to provide their...
View ArticlePam Melroy Thinks That Finding Life Elsewhere In The Universe is “Inevitable”
On Saturday, 27 January 2024, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy appeared on CNN with Christiane Amanpour. A variety of topics such as warfare in space, safety, going to the Moon etc. were discussed...
View ArticleVideo: Why CAVES Are Interesting To Astrobiologists
NASA Astrobiologist Penelope Boston, explains why caves are interesting to astrobiologists. Caves are little studied areas and can resemble environments found on other planets. Caves exist on the Moon...
View ArticleNASA Science Mission Directorate Quarterly Community Town Hall January 31
Date: January 31, 2024Time: 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm Eastern TimeLocation: WebExhttps://nasaenterprise.webex.com/nasaenterprise/j.php?MTID=m9d2e70c81ad38d00eda138b6aaf57c67 NASA’s Science Mission Directorate...
View ArticleAstrobiology, Bioastronautics, And Space Bioprocess Engineering: Domains Of...
The integration of biology and spacefaring has led to the development of three interrelated fields: Astrobiology, Bioastronautics, and Space Bioprocess Engineering. Astrobiology is concerned with the...
View ArticleInternational Astrobiology School 2024
Astrobiology is one of the hot topics of today’s scientific research, attracting the interest of multiple, complementary disciplinary fields. Therefore, the training of new generations of researchers...
View ArticleAway Team Training On Earth: ESA’s CAVES Training Course
Astronauts from five space agencies around the world take part in ESA’s CAVES training course– Cooperative Adventure for Valuing and Exercising human behaviour and performance Skills. The three-week...
View ArticleBiological Research And Self-driving Labs In Deep Space Supported By...
Space biology research aims to understand fundamental effects of spaceflight on organisms, develop foundational knowledge to support deep space exploration, and ultimately bioengineer spacecraft and...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: Andrzej Pohorille
Dr. Andrzej (Andrew) Pohorille, a foundational contributor to astrobiology at NASA, passed away on January 6, 2024. Pohorille was a pioneering mind in the area of modeling the origins of life (OoL),...
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