AABC Mensch Prize Award Winners March 13, 2024 AABC is proud to award its first Mensch Prize in Astrobiology for graduate student Lilia Koelemay and undergraduate student Garret Wilson. This prestigious award includes a certificate and a cash prize of $1,000 for outstanding contributions to the field of astrobiology. Read more Image
Some Intelligent Civilizations Could Be Trapped on Their Worlds March 7, 2024 If the dominant species on an ocean world builds a technological civilization of some sort, would they be able to escape their ocean home and explore space? Read more Image
Could Tardigrades Have Colonized the Moon? March 6, 2024 Given their remarkable abilities to survive situations that would kill pretty much any other animal, could they have contaminated the moon? Worse, might they be able to reproduce and colonize it? Read more Image
Cosmic Dust Could Have Helped Get Life Going on Earth Feb. 28, 2024 While prebiotic chemicals such as sugars and amino acids are known to appear in asteroids and comets, a new study shows that cosmic dust also seeded young Earth. Read more Image
Cosmic Building Blocks of Life Discovered through Electron Microscope Feb. 27, 2024 A team of researchers has examined the Winchcombe meteorite and demonstrated the existence in it of nitrogen compounds without applying any chemical treatment and by using a new type of detector design. Read more Image
Subglacial Microbial Life on Earth and Beyond Feb. 23, 2024 The search for life beyond Earth fascinates many and inspires big questions: Are we truly alone in the universe? Is our Earth unique? Is it possible that life beyond Earth may actually be far from little green aliens and much closer to the microbial life with which we share our planet? Read more Image
Kepler Giant Planet Search: an Aid to “Figure Out Where to Find Life” Feb. 21, 2024 A team of astrophysicists has created the first-ever catalog of small, Earth-like planets with Jupiter-like siblings, a critical component in the search for life elsewhere in our universe. Read more Image
Saturn’s Largest Moon Most Likely Uninhabitable Feb. 16, 2024 A study of the subsurface ocean of Titan—the largest moon of Saturn—shows that it’s most likely a non-habitable environment, meaning any hope of finding life in the icy world is dead in the water. Read more Image
Testing Shows Some Bacteria Could Survive under Mars Conditions Feb. 14, 2024 An international team of radiation specialists, biologists and infectious disease experts has found four types of bacteria that are capable of surviving exposure to the hostile Mars environment. Read more Image
Scientists Identify Water Molecules on Asteroids for the First Time Feb. 13, 2024 Scientists have discovered, for the first time, water molecules on the surface of an asteroid. Read more Image