Jupiter’s moon Europa is just as far away as ever, but new research is bringing scientists closer to being able to explore its tantalizing ice-covered ocean and determine its potential for harboring life. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Saturn's moon Titan may have a deep, hidden ocean, according to data published in the journal Science. Radar images from the Cassini-Huygens mission reinforce predictions that a reservoir of liquid water exists beneath the thick crust of ice. If confirmed, it would mean that Titan has two of the key components for life - water and organic molecules. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a study. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Scientists in Cambridge, UK, have developed a reactor that can make oxygen from Moon rock — a vital technology if plans to create a lunar base are to take off. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

NASA is testing an underwater robot in one of Earth's deepest sinkholes in a first step toward searching for life on Jupiter's icy moon, Europa. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

Titan joins the growing list of places in this solar system which could theoretically support life. Mars and Europa - even our moon are some of the other possibilities. When you look at some of the places on Earth, places that are more inhospitable than these places you have to wonder... picked by BernardBlack 1 year ago

A scientist has emerged from an underwater capsule after spending almost two weeks generating his own oxygen and electricity. picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

A mineral that acts like a sponge beneath Earth's surface stores more oxygen than expected, keeping our planet from becoming dry and inhospitable like Mars. The key to the abundant oxygen storage is the mineral majorite, which exists deep below Earth's surface in the mantle. Without the oxygen stockpile, Earth would probably be a barren planet hostile to life. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Geologists have discovered 1.43 billion-year-old fossils of deep-sea microbes, providing more evidence that life may have originated on the bottom of the ocean. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Scientists on Wednesday said they have an explanation how one of Saturn's moons can spew out a giant plume of water vapor, adding to evidence a source of life -- water -- lies beneath the moon's frozen surface. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Could a dangerous gas buildup at the bottom of the ocean bubble up and wipe out most life on Earth? According to some researchers, it already has done so; several times. Scientists are worried that global warming is making conditions ripe for another deadly ocean burp. picked by 2manyusernames 3 years ago

One theory, presented at Europlanet's latest Planetary Science Congress by Joop Houtkooper from the University of Giessen, suggests that conditions in some lunar craters may be perfect for preserving samples of life from Earth and maybe even Mars. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Thursday, May 31 brings us the second of two full Moons for North Americans this month. Some almanacs and calendars assert that when two full Moons occur within a calendar month, that the second full Moon is called the "Blue Moon." picked by AutumnLotus 3 years ago

A startling discovery by scientists at the Carnegie Institution puts a new twist on photosynthesis, arguably the most important biological process on Earth. But two studies suggest that certain marine microorganisms have evolved a way to break the rules--they get a significant proportion of their energy without a net release of oxygen or uptake of carbon dioxide. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Water has been found conclusively for the first time inside ancient moon samples brought back by Apollo astronauts. The discovery may force scientists to rethink the lunar past and future, although uncertainty remains about how much water exists and whether future explorers could extract it. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.
*this is great* picked by Bornbad 1 year ago

This Chandra X-ray Observatory image shows the debris of a massive star explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy about 160,000 light years from Earth. The supernova remnant (SNR) shown here, N132D, is the brightest in the Magellanic clouds, and belongs to a rare class of oxygen-rich remnants. Most of the oxygen that we breathe on Earth is thought to have come from explosions similar... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

The plains of solidified lava that give the Moon its quirky human-like face as seen from Earth were created more than four billion years ago. The evidence comes from an unearthly silvery-grey stone that was blasted off from the face of the Moon, perhaps by an impacting asteroid, and was then captured by Earth's gravity, prompting it to fall to ground in Botswana. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Geologists have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today. The study suggests that upheavals in the earth’s crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world’s oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere. picked by AutumnLotus 2 years ago

Oxygen is constantly leaking out of Earth’s atmosphere and into space. Now, ESA’s formation-flying quartet of satellites, Cluster, has discovered the physical mechanism that is driving the escape. It turns out that the Earth’s own magnetic field is accelerating the oxygen away. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago