September 2024 – My WordPress Site

Near the end of flight day one, the Apollo 15 crew took this photo of the receding Earth from a distance of about 55,000 miles. -- NASA Larger image

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life

Astrovirology And Terrestrial Life Survival

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Microbial organisms have been implicated in several mass extinction events throughout Earth’s planetary history. Concurrently, it can be reasoned from recent viral pandemics that viruses likely exacerbated the decline of life during these periods of mass extinction.

This simulation was run in a uniformly 90% ice crust (Fig. 1a) at the equator and shows total vertical displacement after 1 Gyr of relaxation. The black lines are the initial state of the simulation, and the solid colour shows the final state of the simulation. In this case, the crater has only shallowed by ~70 m from an initial depth of 2,400 m (seen as the solid colour at the centre of the crater slightly offset from the black line), for a relaxation percentage of

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Ceres, Comets and Asteroids, Cryobiology, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

An Ancient And Impure Frozen Ocean On Ceres Implied By Its Ice-rich Crust

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

An underground biovault on the Moon -- Grok via Astrobiology.com

Cryobiology, Extinction events, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Life Support Systems, Panspermia, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Sample Return, Societal Issues, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Safeguarding Earth’s Biodiversity By Creating A Lunar Biorepository

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

A conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) rosette used to sample water from the ocean’s twilight zone during a GEOTRACES expedition in the Pacific Ocean. Credit Alex Fox

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Ocean World Update: Deep-sea Discovery Shines Light On Life In The Twilight Zone

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Sampling site PE01 from Cueva Paso Esqueleto (PE) -- Nature

Analog Studies, Astrogeology, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Microbiology & Virology

Decoding Organic Compounds In Lava Tube Sulfates To Understand Potential Biomarkers In The Martian Subsurface

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

On the hunt for methanogenic microbes outside the Euryarchaeota, researchers started by collecting samples from Yellowstone National Park — also home to the Imperial Geyser pictured here. Image: Roland Hatzenpichler

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Habitable Zones, Microbiology & Virology, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Joint Genome Institute (JGI)-Enabled Research Demonstrates The Existence Of New Methane Makers

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

A synthesized false color image of Venus using 283-nm and 365-nm images taken by UVI. Images are colorized as follows: 283 nm → blue; 365 nm → red; mixture of both → green. In the 283 nm band observed by UVI, there is an absorption band of sulfur dioxide (SO2). Also, there is an absorption band of an unidentified chemical substance in the 365 nm band. For example, it can be said that the amount of SO2 is relatively low in the bluish areas in this image. © PLANET-C Project Team -- JAXA Larger image

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Venus

Stability of 20 Biogenic Amino Acids in Concentrated Sulfuric Acid: Implications for the Habitability of Venus’ Clouds

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Global mean annual sea surface temperature anomalies (°C) against the Changhsingian background state (412 ppm simulation). (A) SST anomalies between 857 ppm and 412 ppm simulations; (B) SST anomalies between 1712 ppm and 412 ppm simulations; (C) SST anomalies between 2568 ppm and 412 ppm simulations; (D) SST anomalies between 4000 ppm and 412 ppm simulations. -- Science

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Habitable Zones

New Research Reveals How El Nino Caused The Greatest Ever Mass Extinction

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024

Lab-on-chip Technologies For Space Research -- NASA

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Commercial & Private Sector, Cubesats and smallsats, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Microgravity, Missions & Hardware, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Sample Return, Space Life Science, Space Stations, Tricorders & Sensors

Lab-on-chip Technologies For Space Research — Current Trends and Prospects

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024October 16, 2024

Graphical ABstract -- via PubMed

Astrochemistry, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio

Reactant Discovery with an Ab Initio Nanoreactor: Exploration of Astrophysical N-Heterocycle Precursors and Formation Pathways

by Keith CowingSeptember 30, 2024September 29, 2024