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The Tunguska Comet
Topic: Meteorites, Comets and Asteroids
07/04/09
Summary: In 1908, an object originating from space impacted the Earth and leveled 830 square miles of forest in Siberia. The origins of this object were a mystery until now. With science performed on the space shuttle, researchers have determined that the 1908 Tunguska explosion was caused by a comet.
Looking for Earths in All the Right Places
Topic: Missions
07/03/09
Summary: The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the data archive center for NASA's Kepler mission, and has now received the first raw science data from Kepler. Now, the data can be analyzed and used to search for Earth-like worlds around distant stars.
Cooking Up Creation in a Computer
Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life
07/02/09
Summary: The Evogrid is a proposed computerized version of the primordial soup. Digitally simulating virtual particles could help answer the question of how life originated on Earth, and perhaps even spread life to other worlds.
Life Likes Nickel
Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life
07/01/09
Summary: Scientists have determined that nickel could be used to identify the presence of methane-producing microbes on the early Earth. During the process of methanogenesis, microbes cause changes in the isotope fractionation of nickel. Such changes could be used as a biomarker to determine when methanogenic microbes first appeared on our planet.
Salty Ocean on Enceladus
Topic: Enceladus
06/30/09
Summary: A new discovery at Enceladus could have implications for the potential for life on the Saturnian moon. Researchers have found that the large plume of water spurting from the moon is likely fed by a salty, subsurface ocean.
Linking Climate and Habitability
Topic: Climate
06/29/09
Summary: The change in Earth’s climate may help scientists better understand planetary habitability in general. Scientists are now learning how small shifts in climate can have dramatic consequences for the planet’s environment and the life that depends on it.
Spirit Stuck but Still Sleuthing
Topic: Mars
06/28/09
Summary: NASA's Mars rover Spirit is having traction trouble in the martian soil. Although stuck, the rover is taking advantage of the situation by learning more about Mars' environmental history.
Excluding Enzymes
Topic: Origin & Evolution of Life
06/27/09
Summary: Researchers have created new materials that assemble and disassemble in a way similar to DNA. The materials are constructed from molecules that would be expected to exist on the primordial Earth, and could help answer questions about the origin of life.
Coaxing Cold Colonies Back to Life
Topic: Extreme Life
06/26/09
Summary: A bacterium recovered from beneath three kilometers of glacial ice in Greenland may hold clues as to how life could exist on other planets. Astrobiologists are now studying the unique organism, which has been isolated under ice for over 120,000 years.
Exotic Life Could Sprout From Chemistry on Titan
Topic: Titan
06/25/09
Summary: A new study has found that hydrocarbon lakes on Titan could be good hosts for a certain type of chemistry that could lead to life.
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