It's tempting to look for habitable planets around red dwarf stars, which put out far less luminosity and so are less blinding. But is it wise? That question has been near the top of the list for many exoplanet scientists, especially those involved in the search for habitable worlds. Red dwarfs are plentiful (about three-quarters …
Continue reading "Red Dwarf Stars and the Planets Around Them"
It's tempting to look for habitable planets around red dwarf stars, which put out far less luminosity and so are less blinding. But is it wise? That question has been near the top of the list for many exoplanet scientists, especially those involved in the search for habitable worlds. Red dwarfs are plentiful (about three-quarters …
Continue reading "Red Dwarf Stars and the Planets Around Them"
Along the edge of an inlet on a tiny Japanese island can be found– side by side – striking examples of conditions on Earth some 2.4 billion years ago, then 1.4 billion years ago and then the Philippine Sea of today. First is a small channel with iron red, steaming and largely oxygen-free water – …
Continue reading "2.5 Billion Years of Earth History in 100 Square Feet"
Along the edge of an inlet on a tiny Japanese island can be found– side by side – striking examples of conditions on Earth some 2.4 billion years ago, then 1.4 billion years ago and then the Philippine Sea of today. First is a small channel with iron red, steaming and largely oxygen-free water – …
Continue reading "2.5 Billion Years of Earth History in 100 Square Feet"
A version of this article first appeared in Astrobiology Magazine, http://www.astrobio.net. Life on early Earth seems to have begun with a paradox: while life needs water as a solvent, the essential chemical backbones of early life-forming molecules fall apart in water. Our universal solvent, it turns out, can be extremely corrosive. Some have pointed to …
A version of this article first appeared in Astrobiology Magazine, http://www.astrobio.net. Life on early Earth seems to have begun with a paradox: while life needs water as a solvent, the essential chemical backbones of early life-forming molecules fall apart in water. Our universal solvent, it turns out, can be extremely corrosive. Some have pointed to …
More than a half century ago, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey famously put water and gases believed to make up the atmosphere of early Earth into a flask with water, sparked the mix with an electric charge, and produced amino acids and other chemical building blocks of life. The experiment was hailed as a ground-breaking …
Continue reading "Messy Chemistry: A New Way to Approach the Origins of Life"
More than a half century ago, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey famously put water and gases believed to make up the atmosphere of early Earth into a flask with water, sparked the mix with an electric charge, and produced amino acids and other chemical building blocks of life. The experiment was hailed as a ground-breaking …
Continue reading "Messy Chemistry: A New Way to Approach the Origins of Life"
As the Cassini mission embarks on its final dive this Friday into Saturn, it will continue taking photos all the way down (or as far as it remains operations.) We've grown accustomed to seeing remarkable images for the mission and the planet, but clearly the show is not over, and perhaps far from it. …
Continue reading "Cassini Nearing the End, Still Working Hard"
As the Cassini mission embarks on its final dive this Friday into Saturn, it will continue taking photos all the way down (or as far as it remains operations.) We've grown accustomed to seeing remarkable images for the mission and the planet, but clearly the show is not over, and perhaps far from it. …
Continue reading "Cassini Nearing the End, Still Working Hard"
Many Worlds 