We asked Lena Daumann and Jonathan Gutenthaler-Tietze about their recent paper, “Influence of Rare Earth Elements on Prebiotic Reaction Networks Resembling the Biologically Relevant Krebs Cycle.” Lene is Chair of Bioinorganic Chemistry, and Jonathan is a postdoc at Heinrich-Heine-Universität (HHU) in Düsseldorf, Germany. They describe how these often overlooked elements could play an important role in prebiotic chemistry and deserve greater attention in biology and origins-of-life research.

We asked Chunyu Ding about his recent paper, “Water-driven Accessible Potential Karstic Caves in Hebrus Valles, Mars: Implications for Subsurface Habitability.” Chunyu is an Assistant Professor and PhD supervisor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen University, where he leads the Lunar & Planetary Radar Group, focused on radar investigations of the Moon and other planetary bodies. Chunyu explains how he and colleagues discovered the first water-driven cave system on Mars, and why the subsurface is a new key frontier in planetary exploration.

We asked Cassie Hopton about her recent paper, “Growth, physiology, and metabolism of Halomonas meridiana in aqueous ammonium sulfate with implications for icy moon astrobiology.” Cassie is a PhD student in the UK Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh. Cassie explains how ammonium sulfate could act as a double-edged sword for life in the subsurface oceans of icy moons like Titan and Europa.

Celebrating 10 years of astrobiology collaborations in New Zealand!

In this Q&A, we asked Gaëlle Belleau-Magnat about her recent paper, “Mineralogy, geochemistry and morphology of Arctic gossans on Axel Heiberg Island, NU, Canada: Spectroscopic investigation and implications for Mars.” Gaëlle is a research professional in the GEOmatic DEdicated to Space exploration (GEODES) lab, which is part of the Applied Geomatics Department at the Université de Sherbrooke in Québec, Canada. Gaëlle explains why Martian gossans could hold clues to past life and describes the best ways to find them.

For this Astrobiology Revealed, we asked Antonin Affholder about his recent paper, “The Viability of Glycine Fermentation in Titan’s Subsurface Ocean.” Antonin is currently a NOMIS-ETH postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for the Origin and Prevalence of Life at ETH Zürich. He’s affiliated with the Laboratory of Ecosystems and Landscape Evolution, Institute of Terrestrial Ecosystems, at ETH. Antonin explains why glycine-munching microbes might exist in Titan’s ocean, but they’d be extremely challenging to detect given their scarcity.

In this issue of Astrobiology Revealed, we interviewed Alfonso Davila, a Research Scientist in the Exobiology Branch at NASA Ames Research Center. We asked Alfonso about a new web-based tool designed to help the scientific community evaluate evidence of life, called the Life Detection Knowledge Base. Alfonso describes the structure of the database and how the scientific community can use it to plan future life detection missions.

In this Astrobiology Revealed, we spoke with Sarah Gonzalez-Henao, a second-year PhD candidate at Michigan State University, about her recent paper, “An astrobiological perspective on microbial biofilms: their importance for habitability and production of detectable and lasting biosignatures.” Sarah discusses how biofilms protect their microbial inhabitants from harsh conditions, and their potential to provide both organic and inorganic biomarkers for extraterrestrial life.

How a sled-based expedition across the East Antarctic Plateau led to the discovery and cultivation of a new Cyanobacterial species

In this Astrobiology Revealed, we chatted with Afonso Mota about his recent paper, “How Habitable Are M Dwarf Exoplanets? Modeling Surface Conditions and Exploring the Role of Melanins in the Survival of Aspergillus niger Spores Under Exoplanet-Like Radiation.” Afonso is currently a PhD student with the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences at the University of Porto in Portugal. He also engages in science communication as a co-creator of the Portuguese astrobiology young career researcher group, AstroBioLusitanos. Afonso discusses why we need more info about exoplanet atmospheres, the importance of fundamental research, and how the fungus Aspergillus could be the perfect organism to take with us into space.

In the depths of Oman, a hidden world thrives in darkness – fueled not by sunlight, but by hydrogen-rich fluids seeping through ancient rocks.

For this Astrobiology Revealed, we interviewed Caroline Freissinet, CNRS research scientist at Laboratoire Atmosphères et Observations Spatiales (LATMOS) in Guyancourt, France. In her recent paper “Long-chain alkanes preserved in a Martian mudstone,” Caroline and colleagues reported the exciting discovery of linear long-chain carbon molecules from a mudstone sampled by the Curiosity rover at Gale Crater on Mars. Caroline discusses the challenges of working with off-world instruments, potential sources for the carbon compounds, and how international teamwork is paramount in this and future Mars missions.

The U.S. White House budget proposal for fiscal year 2026 would have major consequences for NASA and U.S. funding for space science.

In this Q&A, we asked Shuya Tan about his recent paper “Metal Limiting Habitability in Enceladus? Availability of Trace Metals for Methanogenic Life in Hydrothermal Fluids.” Shuya is currently a Young Research Fellow in the Institute for Extra-cutting-edge Science and Technology Avant-garde Research (X-star) at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). Shuya explains why scientists think methanogens could thrive in Enceladus’ ocean, and explores whether they’d have enough bioactive metals to do so.

In a new article in Astrobiology, authors Mellon et al. discuss the potential habitability of dry permafrost on Mars based on water activity in similar terrestrial analogue samples and models.

For this Astrobiology Revealed, we asked Lara Maldanis about her paper “Unveiling Challenging Microbial Fossil Biosignatures from Rio Tinto with Micro-to-Nanoscale Chemical and Ultrastructural Imaging.” Lara is currently a Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the Earth Sciences department of the VU Amsterdam. Lara discusses how high-resolution 3D imaging methods like the ones they used could be the key to finding definitive traces of life in rocks from challenging environments like Mars.