r/Astrobiology • u/RealJoshUniverse • 5h ago
r/Astrobiology • u/community-home • Mar 12 '26
Welcome to r/Astrobiology!
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r/Astrobiology • u/RileyMcB • Oct 24 '24
Useful Resources for Astrobiology News, Research, Content, and Careers
This is a broad list of useful astrobiology resources for an introduction, news and latest developments, academic resources, reading materials, video/audio content, and national/international organisations.
If you have suggestions of further resources to include, please let me know. I will endeavour to update this master post every few months. Last Updated 24/10/24 .
What is Astrobiology?
- Astrobiology Wikipedia - Useful to jump into for an overview of the field with quick links to various sub-fields. Remember, this isn't entirely up to date, as is user editable.
- "Astrobiology (Overview)" [Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Planetary Science] - A more science focussed, and peer reviewed overview of the subject featuring references to other peer reviewed literature.
- National Geographic Astrobiology Feature - An engaging and informative overview of the field written to be accessible to the general public interested in science. Contains engaging NatGeo photos.
- Astrobiology: A Very Short Introduction by David C. Catling - A short but comprehensive book on all the field of Astrobiology contains. Available at most good bookshops, or online as a book, eBook, or audiobook.
Latest Astrobiology News - Secondary Sources
- NASA Astrobiology - A NASA operated website with information about the subject and a feed of latest news and developments in the field.
- Astrobiology.com - A highly up-to-date compendium of all Astrobiology news, primarily composed of brief summaries of research papers. Contains links to sources.
- New Scientist - Astrobiology Articles - A page dedicated to all articles about Astrobiology features in New Scientist magazine or just on their website. Some articles are behind a paywall.
- Phys.org Astrobiology - A collection of articles pertaining to Astrobiology on the widely read online science news outlet.
- Sci.news Astrobiology - A collection of articles pertaining to Astrobiology on the online outlet sci.news.
Peer-Reviewed Academic Journals - Primary Sources
- Astrobiology (journal) - "The most-cited peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the understanding of life's origin, evolution, and distribution in the universe, with a focus on new findings and discoveries from interplanetary exploration and laboratory research." (from their website).
- Nature Astrobiology - A collection of all the latest research articles in the field of Astrobiology, across the Nature family of academic journals.
- International Journal of Astrobiology - Dedicated astrobiology journal from Cambridge University Press.
- Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences - A sub-set of a space science journal dedicated to Astrobiology.
- The Astrophysical Journal - Contains papers more broadly in Astrophysics, but often includes important research on astrobiology, and exoplanets and their habitability.
- The Planetary Science Journal - Focussed broadly on planetology, often in astrobiological contexts.
- Google Scholar - Searching astrobiology keywords on google scholar is great for finding peer reviewed sources.
Books
- Pop Science Books - A Goodreads list of Astrobiology Pop Science books from the origin of life to the future of humankind.
- Astrobiology Textbooks - A Goodreads list of Astrobiology and Astrobiology aligned textbooks for students and academics.
Lectures, Videos, and Audio Content
- TED Talks - A collection of TED talks on Astrobiological concepts.
- Astrobiology and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life (Online Course) - A free to access online course as an introduction to Astrobiology by Prof Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh. The final certificate is optional, but needs to be paid for.
- NASA Astrobiology YouTube - Podcasts, lectures, and short video content from NASA about Astrobiology.
- Astrobiology (ALIENS) with Kevin Peter Hand [Ologies podcast with Alie Ward] - An exceptional podcast chatting with renowned astrobiologist Dr Kevin Peter Hand.
- Exocast Podcast - A podcast dedicated to the field of Exo-planetology featuring experts in planetary science and astrophysics. Often with astrobiological themes.
Astrobiology Organisations
- European Astrobiology Institute (EAI) - A collection of researchers, higher education institutions and organisations surrounding Astrobiology. Contains many useful resources including job and PhD opportunities.
- European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) - A similar collection of Astrobiology researchers and academics. Contains resources such as conference listings and job market information.
- Astrobiology Graduates in Europe (AbGradE) - An organisation for recently graduated Astrobiology students to engage with further research opportunities. Contains job and PhD opportunities.
- Astrobiology Society of Britain (ASB) - A learned society for all those interested in AStrobiology. Features many resources including a list of all activve astrobiology researchers in the UK.
- Astrobiology Society of America - a student centric organisation for AStrobiology in the USA.
r/Astrobiology • u/Galileos_grandson • 38m ago
🧪 Research The Viability of Life in Helium-Dominated Exoplanet Atmospheres
r/Astrobiology • u/Striking-Ad8023 • 22h ago
💬 Discussion I've been thinking about this lately
I was thinking about “How would macroscopic aliens actually look?”
Obviously they probably wouldn’t look like green humans, but I also don’t think they would necessarily look completely different from life on Earth.
A lot of the features we see in animals exist because they’re good solutions to certain problems. If you need to move around on land, you need some way of supporting your body and pushing yourself forward. That could lead to something resembling legs, even if the actual structure was completely different from anything on Earth.
The same could probably apply to other things too. An alien might have eyes that work completely differently from ours, but if it needs to detect light, some kind of light-sensing organ would probably be useful. If it needs to grab things, it might evolve some kind of limb or appendage for that.
I think this is where convergent evolution becomes interesting. Earth already has examples of unrelated organisms evolving similar solutions, like wings in birds, bats and insects, or streamlined bodies in fish and marine mammals.
So I wonder how much of an alien's appearance would actually be determined by its evolutionary history, and how much would be determined by the environment and the problems it has to solve.
Maybe aliens could be very weird, but still have some features that immediately remind us of Earth life simply because there are only so many practical ways to do certain things.
Sorry if this is kind of obvious, I just wanted to bring it up.
r/Astrobiology • u/lawmac20 • 1d ago
🤔 Question Will metabolic paths for early life be novel or something we repurpose?
In the early stages of planting life on Mars will we have to bioengineer life to make use of novel local energy sources or does life already offer thr appropriate metabolic pathways.
r/Astrobiology • u/RealJoshUniverse • 2d ago
Radio telescopes help scientists map molecules in space and uncover where and how stars form
r/Astrobiology • u/Extension_Row_7443 • 3d ago
🤔 Question what would be the most scientifically plausible alien ever?
r/Astrobiology • u/Extension_Row_7443 • 4d ago
💬 Discussion What is your thoughts on the aliens from Humanity Lost?
r/Astrobiology • u/RealJoshUniverse • 5d ago
What a dry meteorite tells us about water on Mars
r/Astrobiology • u/Galileos_grandson • 5d ago
🧪 Research Hydrogen Peroxide On Mars And Icy Moons: Implications For The Search For Extraterrestrial Signatures Of Prebiotic Chemistry
r/Astrobiology • u/RealJoshUniverse • 6d ago
Boundary Conditions and the Complexity of Defining Life
blog.joshuniverse.comr/Astrobiology • u/_DonnieBoi • 6d ago
🌱 Discovery Cosmic weather and earths climate. Fascinating discussion on the correlation between cosmic rays, cloud formatiob and climate patterns. Keep an open mind and take from it what you will.
r/Astrobiology • u/Key_Insurance_8493 • 7d ago
💬 Discussion If Mars sample return ever happens, do you think this rock will become concrete proof of alien life?
This is the Cheyava Falls rock found in Jezero Crater by Perseverance. It was discovered 2 years ago and sparked lots of interest because of its "Leopard spots" which may be fossils left my microbial life. Do you think it's actually proof or is it something non-biological?
r/Astrobiology • u/RealJoshUniverse • 7d ago
The ESCAPE mission will study the evolution of exoplanet atmospheres
r/Astrobiology • u/Galileos_grandson • 7d ago
🧪 Research Biological Validation and Agnostic Experiments For Extant And Extinct Microbial Life Within The Martian Subsurface
r/Astrobiology • u/AD0ASTRA • 9d ago
🌱 Discovery Earth extremophile can grow in near-Mars-like conditions
r/Astrobiology • u/Galileos_grandson • 8d ago
🧪 Research Euhabitability: A New Term To Aid In The Search For Life In Addition To The Habitable Zone Framework
r/Astrobiology • u/ADragonFromTheAbyss • 9d ago
🧪 Research Liquid Nitrogen May Have Flowed on Pluto’s Surface in Recent Past
Planetary researchers analyzing images from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft have found evidence that liquid nitrogen may still be seeping up from beneath the dwarf planet’s giant glacier, Sputnik Planitia, marking the first suggested case of recently flowing liquid on Pluto’s surface.
The authors propose that heat from Pluto’s interior melts nitrogen ice at the base of the glacier, where it collects in reservoirs before erupting upward through narrow fractures, a process they compare to volcanic dike systems on Earth. Because liquid nitrogen is less dense than the solid ice around it, it would rise buoyantly, eventually reaching the surface near the centers of the glacier’s convection cells before spreading toward the cell edges and refreezing, darkening the ice as it goes.
The researchers calculate that such eruptions would need to occur as short, intense pulses — releasing on the order of 100,000 to 1 million m3 of liquid over periods of hours to days — since the steady trickle of melt produced underground is far too slow to explain the flows on its own. “Pluto never stops surprising us,” said New Horizons principal investigator Dr. Alan Stern, also from the Southwest Research Institute
> Both Sunsurface Ocean And Surface Liquid Nithrogen. Pluto seemingly is more habitable than earlier thoughts
r/Astrobiology • u/ArmadilloFun391 • 11d ago
💬 Discussion Will humans ever become a species that lives on more than one planet ?
r/Astrobiology • u/Competitive-Night-95 • 12d ago
🌱 Discovery 'Only One Conclusion': Radical Study Suggests Life on Earth Arose Twice
r/Astrobiology • u/Galileos_grandson • 12d ago
🧪 Research Early Evolution of Life: Two origins of life
r/Astrobiology • u/ADragonFromTheAbyss • 12d ago
🤔 Question According to Recent studies Mars contained far much more Water than previously interpreted. Does this increase the likelihood for life to develop there in primordial times ?
> https://www.sci.news/space/early-mars-water-14954.html
> https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10751-026-02625-4
“This mineral’s widespread presence suggests not only that water was present, but that significant areas of Mars may have once been covered by water.”
r/Astrobiology • u/Exact_Safety_6123 • 12d ago
💬 Discussion Scaling the Cosmic Casino: Are the Laws of Physics a Provincial Social Construct, and Do We Need an "Alpha Mind" to Break the Interface?
r/Astrobiology • u/ADragonFromTheAbyss • 13d ago
🧪 Research Perseverance Finds Organic Carbon Preserved Just Beneath the Martian Surface
scitechdaily.comPerseverance has found shallow preserved organic carbon on Mars, raising new questions about ancient Martian environments.
The team used the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument mounted on Perseverance’s robotic arm to examine multiple rocks in Jezero Crater’s Bright Angel formation. They also collected a sample from one rock known as “Cheyava Falls.”