NAI

NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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Abiotic Formation of the Sugar of DNA

NASA astrobiologists have produced the first detection of 2-deoxyribose under astrophysical conditions.
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Expedition to the Chilean High Andes

Photos and highlights from the Oct-Nov 2018 expedition to better understand ways to search for life beyond Earth.
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Oman Drilling Project

An Ancient Seabed Holds Secrets in the Search for Life on Other Planets
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Laughing Gas Could Have Helped Warm Early Earth

Scientists look at how nitrous oxide could have played a role in keeping early Earth ice-free.

Gravity Assist Podcast

  1. Why Does a Yellowstone Microorganism Prefer Meager Rations Over Rich Ones?

    Cover of Nature Geosciences featuring the research of M. Amenabar et al. The image shows overlapping gradients in mineral substrates capable of supporting microbial metabolism in a hot spring outflow channel in Yellowstone National Park, WY. Source: Nature Geosciences (August 2017 Volume 10 No 8) Image credit:
    Cover of Nature Geosciences featuring the research of M. Amenabar et al. The image shows overlapping gradients in mineral substrates capable of supporting microbial metabolism in a hot spring outflow channel in Yellowstone National Park, WY. Source: Nature Geosciences (August 2017 Volume 10 No 8)

    Scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW), Arizona State University (ASU), and Montana State University (MSU) have teamed up to discover a puzzle at the junction of geochemistry and biology: Why would a microorganism thriving in a hot spring draw its energy from low-quality sources instead of rich ones?

    The paper “Microbial substrate preference dictated by energy demand rather than supply” is published in Nature Geoscience, and authored by Maximiliano Amenabar (MSU, also with the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI) team at University of Colorado, Boulder (CUB)), Everett L. Shock (ASU and NAI teams at MIT and CUB), Eric Roden (UW and NAI team at UW), John Peters (MSU), and Eric Boyd (MSU and NAI teams at CUB, UW, and the Virtual Planetary Institute).

    The excerpted press release by Robert Burnham is available through the Arizona State University website.

    Source: [Nature Geosciences]

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    Research Highlights
    November 07, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Microbes Dine (Very Slowly) on Coal and Shale, 2 Km Beneath the Seafloor

    A microbe collected from an incubation of coal amended with methylamine. Source: Trembath-Reichert et al. (via DCO) Image credit:
    A microbe collected from an incubation of coal amended with methylamine. Source: Trembath-Reichert et al. (via DCO)

    Elizabeth Trembath-Reichert. a NASA Postdoctoral Porgram fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and a member of the NASA Astrobiology Institute team based at the University of Southern California, is lead author on a paper that measures the activity level and generation times of microbes living in coal and shale beds up to two kilometers below the seafloor. Despite low cell numbers and slow reproduction, the microbes actively consume carbon and nitrogen compounds from their environment.

    The paper, “Methyl-compound use and slow growth characterize microbial life in 2-km-deep subseafloor coal and shale beds” is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

    We excerpt a press release from Deep Carbon Observatory.

    Source: [PNAS]

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    Research Highlights
    November 01, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Maggie Osburn Honored as 2017 Packard Fellow

    Magdalena Osburn has been selected as a 2017 Packard Fellow. Image source: Osburn Isotope Geobiology Lab Image credit:
    Magdalena Osburn has been selected as a 2017 Packard Fellow. Image source: Osburn Isotope Geobiology Lab

    Geobiologist Magdalena “Maggie” Osburn has received a 2017 David and Lucile Packard Fellowship Award for her work at the geochemistry-microbiology interface.

    Source: [Packard Foundation]

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    Feature Stories
    October 25, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Ask an Astrobiologist featuring Dr. Carl Pilcher

    Image credit:

    The Ask an Astrobiologist Show returns for its second season, beginning with an interview with Dr. Carl Pilcher, former director of the NASA Astrobiology Institute. The live Q&A has been rescheduled to Thursday, November 2 at 10AM PT.

    Source: [SAGANet]

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    Feature Stories
    October 19, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Contemporary Water and Habitability of Mars

    Image credit:

    The next live STScI webcast, “Contemporary Water and Habitability of Mars,” presented by Lujendra Ojha of Johns Hopkins University airs November 3 at 12PM ET.

    For more info on the STSci seminar series and to view the calendar of upcoming talks, visit: http://www.stsci.edu/institute/smo/ipl/lecture

    Source: [Johns Hopkins University and The Space Telescope Science Institute]

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    Feature Stories
    October 17, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Early Earth, Warm or Cold?

    Artist concept of the early Earth's surface. Image credit: None
    Artist concept of the early Earth's surface. The early Earth was a hellish place, pummeled by meteors and a choking atmosphere, and yet somehow life got a grip there. Image credit: None
    The early Earth was a hellish place, pummeled by meteors and a choking atmosphere, and yet somehow life got a grip there.

    Source: [Earth and Planetary Science Letters]

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    Research Highlights
    October 17, 2017 • Written by: Aaron Gronstal • Report issue

  1. Pale Rainbow Dots: The Search for Other Earths

    Source: Carnegie Institute for Science Image credit: Carnegie Science
    Source: Carnegie Institute for Science

    Wednesday, October 25, 2017, 6:30 PM ET What does it mean to be a habitable planet? How can we find life if it’s truly “alien” and different from life on Earth? And what techniques can we use to search for life on worlds orbiting distant stars? Drs. Arney and Domagal-Goldman, astrobiologists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, will discuss the science behind these questions and the future telescopes that may provide the answers. The lecture at the Carnegie Institution for Science will be streamed live. For details, visit the event page.

    Source: [Carnegie Institute for Science]

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    Feature Stories
    October 16, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Middle School Teacher Reviewers Needed - Online Astrobiology "Game"

    Screenshot from the Life Underground Game where students take the role of investigators of extreme subsurface environments looking for microbial life. Image credit:
    Screenshot from the Life Underground Game where students take the role of investigators of extreme subsurface environments looking for microbial life.

    The NASA Astrobiology Institute has funded the production of an exciting, new educational game/software called Life Underground. In the game, students take on the role of a young scientist navigating and investigating a subsurface environment, searching for and characterizing microbial life.

    The development team at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts is seeking educator reviewers for the game.

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    Feature Stories
    October 06, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Water can be Corrosive to Life, so what about Alternative Solvents?

    Life on early Earth seems to have begun with a paradox: while life needs water as a solvent, the essential chemical backbones of early life-forming molecules fall apart in water. Our universal solvent, it turns out, can be extremely corrosive.

    Some have pointed to this paradox as a sign that life, or the precursor of life, originated elsewhere and was delivered here via comets or meteorites. Others have looked for solvents that could have the necessary qualities of water without that bond-breaking corrosiveness.

    A “fossil” natural nuclear reactor site in the Okio region of Gabon. The large uranium deposit present underwent nuclear fission on and off for hundreds of thousands of years some 2 billion years ago. The yellow rock is uranium oxide. Image credit: Robert D. Loss
    A “fossil” natural nuclear reactor site in the Okio region of Gabon. The large uranium deposit present underwent nuclear fission on and off for hundreds of thousands of years some 2 billion years ago. The yellow rock is uranium oxide.

    Source: [astrobio.net]

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    Research Highlights
    October 05, 2017 • Written by: Marc Kaufman • Report issue

  1. A Summer of Astrobiology

    Image credit:

    Fall is officially upon us, but not too long ago early career astrobiologists were keeping busy throughout the summer season. AbGradCon 2017 and the Proposal Writing Retreat—organized by and for post-docs, graduate students, and select undergrads—met with great success. The 2017 International Summer School in Astrobiology gathered 22 scholars to the Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (UIMP) in Santander, Spain to learn about exoplanet habitability. And undergraduates collaborating with scientists at Goddard Space Flight Center presented a GSFC Summer Research Associate 2017 Seminar on their innovative research.

    PIs of the NASA Astrobiology Institute teams also report the activities and achievements ...

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    Feature Stories
    October 03, 2017 • Written by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Webcast of Astrobiology, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life

    You can now watch the Library of Congress symposium “Life As It Could Be: Astrobiology, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life” hosted by Luis Campos, the 2016-2017 Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology. The event took place Thursday, September 28, 9AM-6PM ET.

    Summary:

    What is life? How might life have emerged on Earth or on other worlds? And how might we engineer the future of life—what might we make life to be? Astrobiologists and synthetic biologists grapple with these questions every day. To further explore the intersections between these sciences and the humanities, the ...

    Source: [Library of Congress]

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    Feature Stories
    September 27, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. NASA Astrobiology Program Student Early Career Collaboration Awards - Deadline October 2

    Applications for the next cycle of the NASA Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award are due October 2, 2017. Image credit: None
    Applications for the next cycle of the NASA Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award are due October 2, 2017.

    Don’t miss the next opportunity to apply for an Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Award! The deadline is October 2, 2017.

    The Astrobiology Early Career Collaboration Awards offer research-related travel support for undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and junior scientists. Applicants are encouraged to use these resources to circulate among two or more laboratories supported by the NASA Astrobiology Program (Exobiology and Evolutionary Biology, the NAI, Planetary Science and Technology Through Analog Research, MatiSSE, PICASSO and the Habitable Worlds), however any travel that is critical for the applicant’s research will be considered. Travelers must be formally affiliated with a U.S ...

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    Feature Stories
    September 13, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Seeing Emergent Physics Behind Evolution

    PI Nigel Goldenfeld of the Institute for Universal Biology, the NASA Astrobiology Institute team based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was featured in Quanta Magazine, where he talks about collective phenomena, expanding the Modern Synthesis model of evolution, and using quantitative and theoretical tools from physics to gain insights into mysteries surrounding early life on Earth, and the interactions between cyanobacteria and predatory viruses.

    Read the story in Quanta Magazine.

    Source: [Quanta Magazine]

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    Feature Stories
    September 09, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. Library of Congress Symposium: Life As It Could Be: Astrobiology, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life

    Image credit: None

    Luis Campos, the 2016-2017 Baruch S. Blumberg NASA/Library of Congress Chair in Astrobiology, is hosting a symposium entitled “Life As It Could Be: Astrobiology, Synthetic Biology, and the Future of Life.”

    Date/Time: Thursday, September 28, 2017 from 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

    Location: The John W. Kluge Center, Room 119, Thomas Jefferson Building

    What is life? How might life have emerged on Earth or on other worlds? And how might we engineer the future of life—what might we make life to be? Astrobiologists and synthetic biologists grapple with these questions every day. To further ...

    Source: [Library of Congress]

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    Feature Stories
    September 08, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue

  1. NAI 2016 Annual Science Report

    The Annual report has been removed pending final review by NASA HQ. The reviewed report will be reposted by Oct 1, 2017.

    Image credit:

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    Feature Stories
    September 06, 2017 • Posted by: Miki Huynh • Report issue
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