NASA - NASA-supported scientists have examined the long and intricately linked history of microbial life and the Earth's environment. By reviewing the current state of knowledge across fields like microbiology, molecular biology, and geology, the study looks at how microorganisms have both shaped and been shaped by chemical properties of our planet's oceans, land, and...
GRIST - Michael Diamond thought he’d have to wait until this year, at least, to have enough data to understand how a shipping regulation aimed at curbing pollution affected the clouds that deck the ocean. “They’re so variable. They’re so wispy. They’re so ever, ever changing,” he said. “So you really often need a lot...
EARTH.COM - We exist, thrive, and ponder upon life, but when it comes to understanding its beginnings, we’ve always found ourselves at a crossroads. Where did we come from? What did the world look like when life first emerged? A recent paper from UC Riverside is now helping us piece together this complex puzzle using...
ASTRONOMY - In a new study published in The Astrophysical Journal, astronomers propose looking for greenhouse gases in the atmospheres of exoplanets using tools like the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). But rather than searching for an advanced species suffering the consequences of climate change, such gases might be a sign of something else: terraforming...
ANCIENT ORIGINS - While we have yet to identify life on any other planet or anywhere else in space, a new study has revealed the telltale signs which could indicate a planet being inhabited. Researchers at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) discovered that greenhouse gases, much like the ones emitted by our very own...
SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE - Scientists have uncovered intricately preserved fossils of trilobites that are providing new insights into the extinct invertebrates’ anatomy. The animals had been buried in modern-day Morocco after volcanic ash blanketed them underwater more than 500 million years ago. This preservation created 3D fossils that revealed several new features of trilobites, researchers reported...
SCIENCE NEWS - Paleontologists studying rocks from Morocco have unearthed the most exquisitely preserved trilobite fossils yet discovered. The new lifelike fossils update our understanding of the evolution and biology of these extinct ocean-dwelling arthropods. The details are so great that soft tissue parts of the trilobites, including the mouth and digestive tract, are clearly...
NAUTILUS - Hold a grain of sand up to the night sky at arm’s length. There are thousands of galaxies in that miniscule fraction of the heavens. Galaxies like ours hold hundreds of billions of stars—a good portion of which host planets. And a number of these are in the “habitable zone,” that just-right distance...
IFLSCIENCE - There may come a point (perhaps for humans, perhaps not) where a civilization may wish to terraform a planet in their Solar System or beyond. Perhaps an environmental disaster was looming on their planet, or they spotted a nearby neighbor planet that looked like – with a few finishing touches – it could...
EARTH.COM - The search for extraterrestrial life has captivated our imaginations for centuries. Now, a study from the University of California, Riverside (UCR) suggests a tantalizing possibility: we may be able to detect alien activity and civilizations by identifying artificial greenhouse gases they use to terraform planets. What is terraforming? Terraforming, a concept popular in...