Study Warns of ‘Oxygen false positives’ in Search for Signs of Life on Other Planets
Oxygen in the atmosphere may not be an entirely reliable ‘biosignature,’ but there are ways to distinguish false positives from signs of life, scientists say
How Radioactivite Elements May Make Planets Suitable or Hostile to Life
What makes a planet suitable to life? Some researchers think that focusing on a planet’s distance from its sun — the “habitable zone” — is too narrow. A new hypothesis looks at how radioactive elements may be an important factor for life to emerge.
WARNING: Too Much Radiogenic Heat Could Hurt Exoplanet Habitability
https://astrobites.org/2020/11/17/radiogenic-heat-hurts-dynamos/
UC Santa Cruz Leads Interdisciplinary Consortium for Astrobiology Research
With funding from NASA, the UCSC-led team will lay the foundation for detecting the signatures of life in the atmospheres of other planets
Stellar Smashups May Fuel Planetary Habitability, Study Suggests
Radioactive elements produced by colliding neutron stars could make the difference between living and lifeless worlds.
Radioactive elements may be crucial to the habitability of rocky planets
Earth-size planets can have varying amounts of radioactive elements, which generate internal heat that drives a planet’s geological activity and magnetism
Astrobiology Initiative Team Members Honored with Awards and Distinctions
Several of our esteemed Astrobiology Initiative team members received awards and distinctions recently. Honors included: