Some icy exoplanets may have habitable oceans and geysers
A NASA study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could.....»»
Planetary geophysics: What is it? What can it teach us about finding life beyond Earth?
Universe Today has examined the importance of studying impact craters, planetary surfaces, exoplanets, astrobiology, solar physics, comets, and planetary atmospheres, and how these intriguing scientific disciplines can help scientists and the public.....»»
Planet "on the brink", with new heat records likely in 2024: UN
Global temperatures "smashed" heat records last year, as heat waves stalked oceans and glaciers suffered record ice loss, the United Nations said Tuesday—warning 2024 was likely to be even hotter......»»
A holistic look at Earth"s chemical cycling sheds light on how the planet stays habitable
We all know Earth is special, but we may not fully appreciate how good we have it on this planet. Unlike its planetary neighbors, Earth has remained habitable for billions of years thanks to a complicated, ever-changing dance of elements......»»
Could Earth life survive on a red dwarf planet?
Even though exoplanet science has advanced significantly in the last decade or two, we're still in an unfortunate situation. Scientists can only make educated guesses about which exoplanets may be habitable. Even the closest exoplanet is four light-y.....»»
Dune: What the climate of Arrakis can tell us about the hunt for habitable exoplanets
Frank Herbert's Dune is epic sci-fi storytelling with an environmental message at its heart. The novels and movies are set on the desert planet of Arrakis, which various characters dream of transforming into a greener world—much like some envision.....»»
Vinegar and baking soda: A cleaning hack or just a bunch of fizz?
Vinegar and baking soda are staples in the kitchen. Many of us have combined them in childhood scientific experiments: think fizzy volcanoes and geysers......»»
The LIFE telescope passed its first test, detecting biosignatures on Earth
We know that there are thousands of exoplanets out there, with many millions more waiting to be discovered. But the vast majority of exoplanets are simply uninhabitable. For the few that may be habitable, we can only determine if they are by examinin.....»»
Range-shifting fishes are climate-change losers, according to new research
The warming of the Earth's oceans due to climate change is affecting where the world's fishes live, eat, and spawn—and often in ways that can negatively impact their populations. That's according to a new paper published in the journal Nature Ecolo.....»»
This hot Jupiter is doomed to crash into its star in just three million years
In 2008, astronomers with the SuperWASP survey spotted WASP-12b as it transited in front of its star. At the time, it was part of a new class of exoplanets ("hot Jupiters") discovered a little more than a decade before. However, subsequent observatio.....»»
Jupiter"s moon Europa produces less oxygen than we thought—it may affect our chances of finding life there
Jupiter's icy moon Europa has long been thought of as one of the most habitable worlds in the Solar System. Now the Juno mission to Jupiter has directly sampled its atmosphere in detail for the first time. The results, published in Nature Astronomy,.....»»
Video: New radar mission for Europe
The upcoming Copernicus Radar Observation System for Europe in L-band (ROSE-L) will provide continuous day-and-night all-weather monitoring of Earth's land, oceans and ice, and offer frequent observations of Earth's surface at a high spatial resoluti.....»»
See planets being born in new images from the Very Large Telescope
Astronomers have peered into the disks of matter from which exoplanets form, looking at more than 80 young stars to see which have planets forming around them......»»
Eight new deep-sea species of marine sponges discovered
Although marine sponges are widespread in the oceans, their biodiversity and distribution is still poorly known. Even though the Mediterranean Sea is the most explored sea on Earth, a study by Julio A. Díaz and colleagues, published in PeerJ, reveal.....»»
Global hot streak continues. February, winter, world"s oceans all break high temperature marks.
For the ninth straight month, Earth has obliterated global heat records—with February, the winter as a whole and the world's oceans setting new high-temperature marks, according to the European Union climate agency Copernicus......»»
All pirate relic locations in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
Late in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is an objective that sends you across the open oceans in search of pieces of a treasure. Here are all four locations......»»
More planets than stars: Kepler"s legacy
The Kepler mission enabled the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, revealing a deep truth about our place in the cosmos: There are more planets than stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The road to this fundamental change in our understanding of the univ.....»»
Fossils of giant sea lizard with dagger-like teeth show how our oceans have fundamentally changed since the dinosaur era
Paleontologists have discovered a strange new species of marine lizard with dagger-like teeth that lived near the end of the age of dinosaurs. Their findings, published in Cretaceous Research, show a dramatically different ocean ecosystem to what we.....»»
Jupiter’s icy moon Europa may be light on oxygen, lowering habitability hopes
New research pours cold water on the likelihood of Europa being habitable, as it seems that the moon produces less oxygen than previously thought......»»
Emergency atmospheric geoengineering wouldn"t save the oceans
Climate change is heating the oceans, altering currents and circulation patterns responsible for regulating climate on a global scale. If temperatures dropped, some of that damage could theoretically be undone......»»
Building bionic jellyfish for ocean exploration
Jellyfish can't do much besides swim, sting, eat, and breed. They don't even have brains. Yet, these simple creatures can easily journey to the depths of the oceans in a way that humans, despite all our sophistication, cannot......»»