Tag: planets

In many rivers, only a small amount of streamflow remains for nature after water is diverted for hydropower production. In light of climate change and biodiversity loss, this is having increasingly serious consequences. Researchers from WSL,...
Scientists have identified what could be the oldest rocks on Earth from a rock formation in Canada. The Nuvvuagittuq Greenstone Belt has long been known for its ancient rocks—plains of streaked gray stone on the eastern shore...

Can surface fractures on Earth, Mars, and Europa predict habitability on other planets?

When a mudflat crumbles on Earth, or an ice sheet splinters on one of Jupiter's moons (Europa), or an ancient lakebed breaks on Mars,...

Planets without plate tectonics could still be habitable

It has been thought that plate tectonics were a significant factor in the shaping of our planet and the evolution of life. Mars and...

Could habitable planets orbiting white dwarfs retain their oceans? Maybe

Potentially habitable exoplanets are so incredibly common that astronomers have started to consider more unusual situations where life might arise. Perhaps life can be...

Life might be easiest to find on planets that match an earlier Earth

We're inching closer and closer to reliably detecting biosignatures on distant planets. Much of the focus is on determining which chemicals indicate life's presence. But...

‘Terminator zones’ on distant planets could harbor life, astronomers say

In a new study, University of California, Irvine astronomers describe how extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside a special...

New theory concludes that the origin of life on Earth-like planets is likely

Does the existence of life on Earth tell us anything about the probability of abiogenesis—the origin of life from inorganic substances—arising elsewhere? That's a...

Walking robots could aid research on other planets

Today NASA uses wheeled rovers to navigate the surface of Mars and conduct planetary science, but research involving Texas A&M University scientists will test...

‘Diamond rain’ on giant icy planets could be more common than previously thought

A new study has found that "diamond rain," a long-hypothesized exotic type of precipitation on ice giant planets, could be more common than previously...

Scientists study microorganisms on Earth to gain insight into life on other planets

In Oman, on the Persian Gulf, there is a large slab of ancient seafloor—including ultramafic rocks from Earth's upper mantle—called the Samail Ophiolite. These...

How do planets form?

How do planets form? For many years scientists thought they understood this process by studying the one example we had access to: our own...

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