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TagNitrous oxide as biosignature

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Saturn moon Enceladus in front of planet Saturn, rings, other moons and the Milky Way galaxy

News From the Search for Extraterrestrial Life 8

Saturn’s moon Enceladus may have abundant phosphorus, essential for life

In our universe: Even the smallest stars could provide for habitable planets, a research group reports. They were able to get photosynthetic bacteria and red and green algae to live in light conditions that mimicked the glow from a red dwarf star. Their paper is open access. That’s important because only 8% of stars are Sun-like; 75% are red dwarfs. (Universe Today) That greatly increases the search space. Nitrous oxide (laughing gas) could be a biosignature, along with oxygen and methane, University of California Riverside scientists suggest: “Microorganisms are constantly transforming other nitrogen compounds into N2O, a metabolic process that can yield useful cellular energy … The research team believes now is the time for astrobiologists to consider alternative biosignature Read More ›