Flyer for the WiCOR Lecture in Spring 2026, presented by Victoria Meadows with a photo of the speaker, a graphic of a magnifying glass looking at a planet, and a gradient background from dark blue to bright purple, along with the WiCOR and UW-Madison Logos.

The Search for Living Worlds Beyond the Solar System 🔭

Don't miss the next WiCOR Lecture from Dr. Victoria Meadows (SETI Institute)!

📆 Wed. April 22 at 7:00 PM
📍The Marquee at Union South

🔗go.wisc.edu/wicor-lecture-sp2026

🧪 #Astrobiology #exoplanets #biosignatures #spectroscopy

Original post on astrobites.org

Life on the (Red) Edge Today’s bite explores life on the vegetation red edge...and how we might find it on other worlds. Title: Retrieving the Red Edge on Earth-like Planets with Heterogeneous Cl...

#Daily #Paper #Summaries #astrobiology #atmophere […]

[Original post on astrobites.org]

Summer School: "Biosignatures and the Search For Life on Mars" - Astrobiology "Biosignatures and the Search For Life on Mars", will be held in Iceland from 18 to 26 July 2026

Summer School: "Biosignatures and the Search For Life on Mars"
astrobiology.com/2026/03/summ... #astrobiology #biosignatures #Mars

Retrieving the Red Edge on Earth-like Planets with Heterogeneous Clouds and Surfaces - Astrobiology The detection and characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets is one of the chief goals of astrophysics for the coming decades

Retrieving the Red Edge on Earth-like Planets with Heterogeneous Clouds and Surfaces
astrobiology.com/2026/03/retr... #astrobiology #biosignatures #exoplanet

Stability and Reactivity of Alternative Nucleobases in Concentrated Sulfuric Acid. - Astrobiology Recent findings demonstrate that concentrated sulfuric acid supports rich organic chemistry

Stability and Reactivity of Alternative Nucleobases in Concentrated Sulfuric Acid.
astrobiology.com/2026/03/stab... #astrobiology #biosignatures #genomics #Venus

DNA Fragments Could Survive In Martian Rocks For More Than 100 Million Years - Astrobiology DNA fragments could be preserved within its rocks for more than 100 million years,

DNA Fragments Could Survive In Martian Rocks For More Than 100 Million Years
astrobiology.com/2026/03/dna-... #astrobiology #biosignatures #genomic #Mars

Original post on astrobites.org

Guest: A Pricey Path to Habitable Planets: Expanding the VLTI to Directly Probe Exoplanets Today’s authors propose upgrades to the VLTI that will allow us to search for signs of life on distant w...

#Daily #Paper #Summaries #biosignatures #exoplanet […]

[Original post on astrobites.org]

The 'Planet B' Lie: Why Finding Aliens Won't Save Us Is Earth just a cosmic fluke, or are we being watched from a neighbor's window? 🌌 In this mind-bending episode, we react to the viral BigThink feature with the 'Indiana Jones of Astronomy,' Astrophysicist Sara Seager. As she leads the high-stakes scientific quest to locate exoplanets and identify signs of life beyond our solar system, we’re forced to confront a controversial truth: finding an Earth twin isn’t just about meeting aliens; it’s about decoding our own planetary survival. 🧪 Why is this conversation a must-listen? - 🚀 The Venus Mystery: We break down the explosive debate over phosphine gas—could life be thriving in the toxic clouds of our closest neighbor? - 🔭 Biosignatures & Beyond: How do we spot a living world from trillions of miles away? Sara Seager reveals the technical persistence required for deep-space discovery. - 🌎 The Myth of 'Planet B': Forget the sci-fi movies. We discuss the harsh reality of astrophysics and why there is currently no escape plan for humanity. - ✨ The 'Smallest Lights': Why personal resilience is the only way to navigate the vast, terrifying unknowns of space exploration. While the thrill of discovering thousands of distant worlds is intoxicating, Seager’s research serves as a chilling and beautiful reminder to cherish our planetary uniqueness. We aren't just looking for another home; we're looking for a mirror to understand our own origins. 🛸 Are we truly alone? Or are we just looking in the wrong places? This episode is a deep dive into the smallest lights of hope that define our existence. ✅ Subscribe now and share this episode with a fellow space-nerd! Let’s join the search for truth and protect the fragile home we already have. 🌍✨  

📣 New Podcast! "The 'Planet B' Lie: Why Finding Aliens Won't Save Us" on @Spreaker #aliens #astrobiology #astrophysics #bigthink #biosignatures #discovery #earth #exoplanets #jwst #nasa #planetb #saraseager #science #sciencepodcast #space #spaceexploration #spacefacts #stem #universe #venus

Searching for Life-As-We-Don't-Know-It: Mission-relevant Application of Assembly Theory for Exoplanet Life Detection This white paper introduces a framework for applying Assembly Theory (AT) to planetary atmospheres as a biosignature framework suitable for the Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO). AT quantifies the mi...

Searching for Life-As-We-Don't-Know-It: Mission-relevant Application of Assembly Theory for Exoplanet Life Detection
#exoplanets #biosignatures

arxiv.org/abs/2603.11086

Meet a member! Take a look at Silke Asche's bio card to know more about her research and interests ✨️ @silkeasche.bsky.social #OoL #biosignatures #massspectrometry #assemblytheory

Jasmina Wiemann's PaLEO Lab | JHU Lab homepage for Jasmina Wiemann's PaLEO Lab (Molecular Geo-, Astro-, Paleobiology) at Johns Hopkins University.

Curious? Learn more about recent papers on #paleontology, #biosignatures, #spectroscopy, #dinosaurs, #machinelearning from our lab - or stay tuned for upcoming discoveries!

Lab homepage: www.jasminawiemann.com

Mars Curiosity Seeks Evidence Of Organics - Astrobiology Mars has emerged from its holiday behind the Sun

Mars Curiosity Seeks Evidence Of Organics
astrobiology.com/2026/02/mars... #astrobiology #Mars #biosignatures

Abiotic Sugar Enantiomers In The CI Carbonaceous Chondrite Orgueil - Astrobiology The uneven detection of prebiotic organic compounds in meteorites

Abiotic Sugar Enantiomers In The CI Carbonaceous Chondrite Orgueil
astrobiology.com/2026/02/abio... #astrobiology #astrochemistry #biosignatures

This Student Made Cosmic Dust In Her Lab. What She Found Could Help Us Understand How Life Started On Earth - Astrobiology A Sydney PhD student has recreated a tiny piece of the Universe inside a bottle in her laboratory

This Student Made Cosmic Dust In Her Lab. What She Found Could Help Us Understand How Life Started On Earth
astrobiology.com/2026/02/this... #astrobiology #astrochemistry #biosignatures

Earth's Ancient Atmosphere May Have Rained Down The Key Ingredients For Life - Astrobiology New research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that Earth’s ancient atmosphere may have acted as a global chemical factory

Earth's Ancient Atmosphere May Have Rained Down The Key Ingredients For Life
astrobiology.com/2026/01/eart... #astrobiology #biosignatures #originoflife

Light blue book cover showing an array of radio telescopes under a starry and cloudy sky. The book is called, "The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - Theory and Practice"

I've just ordered this (paperback version): "The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - Theory and Practice" by @astrowright.bsky.social @iop.org @ioppublishing.bsky.social #technosignatures #biosignatures #SETI #astrobiology 🔭🧪⚛️

Habitable Worlds Observatory Living Worlds Working Group: Surface Biosignatures on Potentially Habitable Exoplanets - Astrobiology The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is the first NASA Astrophysics flagship mission

Habitable Worlds Observatory Living Worlds Working Group: Surface Biosignatures on Potentially Habitable Exoplanets
astrobiology.com/2026/01/habi... #astrobiology #biosignatures #exoplanet #astronomy

Organisms In The Atacama Desert Soil Are Remarkably Diverse - Astrobiology A new study shows that resilient and remarkably diverse populations of organisms can persist in the soil

Organisms In The Atacama Desert Soil Are Remarkably Diverse
astrobiology.com/2026/01/orga... #astrobiology #extremophile #microbiology #biosignatures

Signs Of Ancient Life Turn Up In An Unexpected Place - Astrobiology Central High Atlas Mountains of Morocco when she saw something that literally stopped her in her tracks.

Signs Of Ancient Life Turn Up In An Unexpected Place
astrobiology.com/2026/01/sign... #astrobiology #biosignatures

"Applying Biosignatures to Constrain the Fingerprint, Origins, Evolution, and Evolvability of Life"

Using integrated biosignatures to infer evolutionary processes on Earth & constrain evolvability elsewhere.
#Biosignatures #Astrobiology

Authigenic Biosignatures Of Microbial Biomass Preserved As Carbonate Ooids Formed By Abiotic Chemically Oscillating Reactions Throughout Earth History - Astrobiology Ooids are small spheroidal carbonate grains that have circularly concentric and radially aligned crystals.

Authigenic Biosignatures Of microbial Biomass Preserved As Carbonate Ooids Formed By Abiotic Chemically Oscillating Reactions Throughout Earth History
astrobiology.com/2026/01/auth... #astrobiology #originoflife #biosignatures

Can Scientists Detect Life Without Knowing What it Looks Like? Research Using Machine Learning Offers a New Way | Newswise Instead of searching for a single molecule or structure that proves the presence of biology, researchers attempted to classify how likely mixtures of compounds preserved in rocks and meteorites were t...

Can Scientists Detect Life Without Knowing What it Looks Like? Research Using Machine Learning Offers a New Way
www.newswise.com/articles/can...

#astrobiology #OrganicMolecules #machinelearning #aminoacids #biosignatures

Detectability of Atmospheric Biosignatures in Earth Analogs with Varying Surface Boundary Conditions: Prospects for Characterization in the UV, Visible, Near-Infrared, and Mid-Infrared Regions - Astro... The search for potentially habitable exoplanets centers on detecting biosignature molecules in Earth-like atmospheres

Detectability of Atmospheric Biosignatures in Earth Analogs with Varying Surface Boundary Conditions: Prospects for Characterization in the UV, Visible, Near-Infrared, and Mid-Infrared Regions
astrobiology.com/2025/12/dete... #astrobiology #biosignatures #exoplanet

Chemistry and AI pushes biosignature detection for life back billions of years. Combining analytical chemistry with machine learning doubled the age of ancient rocks that can be examined for signs of primordial life

Chemistry and AI pushes biosignature detection for life back billions of years. #Science #Chemistry #Biochemistry #Biosignatures #Astrobiology

Excited to announce our session at AbSciCon 2026! We welcome abstracts covering topics across #Paleontology, #Geobiology, #Chemistry, #genomics, #evolution, #astrobiology, #biosignatures, #molecularpaleobiology.

It's a fun and very interdisciplinary conference!

Join us in Madison, WI, in 2026!

I'm delighted to share the latest publication involving my lab - out now in PNAS:

Geochemists & Paleontologists across the globe joined forces to confirm the preservation of molecular #biosignatures in #fossil organic matter - and explore signals associated with photosynthesis.

Terrestrial Iron Biosignatures And Their Potential In Solar System Exploration For Astrobiology - Astrobiology Iron (Fe) is one of the most abundant elements in the solar system.

Terrestrial Iron Biosignatures And Their Potential In Solar System Exploration For Astrobiology
astrobiology.com/2025/11/terr... #astrobiology #Biosignatures

Original post on nasaspacenews.com

Find Alien Life in Clouds: New Detection Method for Exoplanets Scientists create key to find alien life in clouds—new reflectance spectra of atmospheric microbes enable detection of biosignatures...

#Research #AstrobioLogyLife #Biosignatures #CloudLife […]

[Original post on nasaspacenews.com]

Life in the clouds on other worlds: New Biosignature Detection Method Life in the clouds on other worlds may be detectable through colorful biopigments; new study reveals how atmospheric microorgan...

#Astrophysics #Astrobiology #AstrobioLogyLife […]

[Original post on nasaspacenews.com]

General Circulation Models Of Hycean Worlds - Astrobiology Sub-Neptunes represent the current frontier of exoplanet atmospheric characterisation.

General Circulation Models Of Hycean Worlds
astrobiology.com/2025/11/gene... #astrobiology #exoplanet #biosignatures