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| 'Bizarre Bacteria' in Lake Vostok Study Likely a Contaminant |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
03/12/13 |
| Last week, reports began to emerge that scientists had discovered a previously unknown bacteria in samples from Antarctica’s Lake Vostok. Word quickly spread throughout the blogosphere, but the bacteria in question is likely just a contaminant. |
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| The 'Habitable Edge' of Exomoons |
| Topic: New Planets |
03/04/13 |
| Exomoons -- moons of alien planets -- have many hurdles to habitability, such as eclipses and tidal heating, that are different from the planets they orbit. |
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| Detecting Life on Planets that Orbit White Dwarf Stars |
| Topic: Alien Life |
02/25/13 |
| A white dwarf is a dead star that slowly cools down until it fades into oblivion. Yet it has been predicted that habitable planets can orbit a white dwarf. If we can somehow detect these planets, would we also be able to spot signs of life? |
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| Searching for Organics in a Nibble of Soil |
| Topic: Missions |
02/18/13 |
| An all-in-one chemical analysis instrument -- currently under development -- could potentially detect a single amino acid in a gram of Martian soil. |
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| Microbes Survive a Mixed Bag of Mars ‘Biocidals’ |
| Topic: Extreme Life |
02/11/13 |
| For the first time, scientists find that microbes from Earth can survive and grow even in the mix of drastically low pressure, freezing temperatures and oxygen-starved conditions seen on Mars. |
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| Habitable Binary Star Systems |
| Topic: Cosmic Evolution |
02/04/13 |
| Habitable planets hoping to see a double sunset stand the best chance when orbiting twin stars that are close together. |
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| Swansong Biospheres |
| Topic: Earth |
12/20/12 |
| Billions of years from now, life on Earth will be extinguished when the Sun becomes a Red Giant star. New research determines the last places life will exist before our planet is sterilized. |
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| Storms in the Machine |
| Topic: Climate |
12/17/12 |
| NASA researchers are constructing a statistical typhoon model that can quickly generate millions of synthetic typhoons from birth through termination. Their work could provide new details about the climate of Earth, and what the future may hold for life on our planet. |
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| At Last, How Many Alien Civilizations are There? |
| Topic: Alien Life |
11/30/12 |
| Frank Drake’s famous equation for estimating alien life has been altered by one scientist to create the “Statistical Drake Equation”. The results provide good news for the SETI community. |
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| Do Aliens Use Hairspray? |
| Topic: Alien Life |
11/22/12 |
| Chemicals such as those found in hairspray might one day serve as signs that aliens have reshaped distant worlds, researchers say. |
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