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Sustained wet–dry cycling on early Mars
Observations by the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater on Mars indicate that high-frequency wet–dry cycling occurred on the early Martian surface, indicating a possible seasonal climate conducive to prebiotic evolution on early Mars.
- W. Rapin
- , G. Dromart
- & N. L. Lanza
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A cool runaway greenhouse without surface magma ocean
It is reported using a consistent climate model that pure steam atmospheres are commonly shaped by radiative layers, making their thermal structure strongly dependent on the stellar spectrum and internal heat flow.
- Franck Selsis
- , Jérémy Leconte
- & Émeline Bolmont
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Article
| Open Access
Diverse organic-mineral associations in Jezero crater, Mars
Raman and fluorescence spectra, consistent with several species of aromatic organic molecules, are reported in the Crater Floor sequences of Jezero crater, Mars, suggesting multiple mechanisms of organic synthesis, transport, or preservation.
- Sunanda Sharma
- , Ryan D. Roppel
- & Anastasia Yanchilina
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Past, present and future stars that can see Earth as a transiting exoplanet
The Gaia database is used to identify stars from which astronomers on orbiting planets could see Earth transiting the Sun in the past, present and future.
- L. Kaltenegger
- & J. K. Faherty
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Recycling and metabolic flexibility dictate life in the lower oceanic crust
Analyses of microbial communities that live 10–750 m below the seafloor at Atlantis Bank, Indian Ocean, provide insights into how these microorganisms survive by coupling energy sources to organic and inorganic carbon resources.
- Jiangtao Li
- , Paraskevi Mara
- & Virginia P. Edgcomb
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Letter |
No detection of methane on Mars from early ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter observations
Highly sensitive measurements of the atmosphere of Mars with the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter do not detect any methane over a range of latitudes in both hemispheres, in contrast to previous local or remote detections.
- Oleg Korablev
- , Ann Carine Vandaele
- & Maria Paz Zorzano
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Abiotic synthesis of amino acids in the recesses of the oceanic lithosphere
High-resolution imaging techniques show that aromatic amino acids such as tryptophan formed abiotically and were subsequently preserved at depth beneath the Atlantis Massif of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, supporting the hydrothermal theory for the origin of life.
- Bénédicte Ménez
- , Céline Pisapia
- & Matthieu Réfrégiers
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Evidence for early life in Earth’s oldest hydrothermal vent precipitates
Perhaps the earliest known signs of life have been found in Quebec, where features such as haematite tubes suggest that filamentous microbes lived around hydrothermal vents at least 3,770 million years ago.
- Matthew S. Dodd
- , Dominic Papineau
- & Crispin T. S. Little
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Letter |
Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1
Last year, three Earth-sized planets were discovered to be orbiting the nearby Jupiter-sized star TRAPPIST-1; now, follow-up photometric observations from the ground and from space show that there are at least seven Earth-sized planets in this star system, and that they might be the right temperature to harbour liquid water on their surfaces.
- Michaël Gillon
- , Amaury H. M. J. Triaud
- & Didier Queloz
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Letter |
Evolution of the global phosphorus cycle
Low phosphorus burial in shallow marine sedimentary rocks before about 750 million years ago implies a change in the global phosphorus cycle, coinciding with the end of what may have been a stable low-oxygen world.
- Christopher T. Reinhard
- , Noah J. Planavsky
- & Kurt O. Konhauser
A recently formed ocean inside Saturn’s moon Mimas