Plant Biology
Extra Dwarf Pak Choi Plants Growing On The Space Station 
Extra Dwarf Pak Choi plants are pictured growing inside the Veggie space botany research facility aboard the International Space Station. The Veg-03 investigation is exploring how to grow food in space and assesses the impact of space gardening on crew morale and mood.
Astrogeology
Hemispheric Tectonics on Super-Earth LHS 3844b
The tectonic regime of rocky planets fundamentally influences their long-term evolution and cycling of volatiles between interior and atmosphere. Earth is the only known planet with active plate tectonics, but observations of exoplanets may deliver insights into the diversity of tectonic regimes beyond the solar system.
Origin & Evolution of Life
Origin of life - The Chicken-And-The-Egg Problem
A Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich team has shown that slight alterations in transfer-RNA molecules (tRNAs) allow them to self-assemble into a functional unit that can replicate information exponentially. tRNAs are key elements in the evolution of early life-forms.
SETI
Concepts For Future Missions To Search For Technosignatures
New and unique opportunities now exist to look for technosignatures (TS) beyond traditional SETI radio searches, motivated by tremendous advances in exoplanet science and observing capabilities in recent years.
Habitable Zones & Global Climate
Implications Of An Improved Water Equation Of State For Water-rich Planets
Water (H2O), in all forms, is an important constituent in planetary bodies, controlling habitability and influencing geological activity.
Space Life Science
International Space Station Archives Fuel New Scientific Discoveries
When scientists complete an experiment aboard the International Space Station, the ramifications of that work have just begun. NASA carries on a legacy of decades of biological research data, fueling new discoveries long after studies wrap up in space.
Astrochemistry
Discovery of Allenyl Acetylene, H2CCCHCCH, in TMC-1. A Study Of The Isomers Of C5H4
We present the discovery in TMC-1 of allenyl acetylene, H2CCCHCCH, through the observation of nineteen lines with a signal-to-noise ratio ~4-15. For this species, we derived a rotational temperature of 7 +/- 1 K and a column density of (1.2 +/- 0.2)e13 cm-2.
Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments
Microbes Deep Beneath The Seafloor Survive On The Byproducts Of Water Molecule Irradiation
A team of researchers from the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography and their collaborators have revealed that the abundant microbes living in ancient sediment below the seafloor are sustained primarily by chemicals created by the natural irradiation of water molecules.
Impact events
Asteroid Dust Found In Crater Closes Case Of Dinosaur Extinction
Researchers believe they have closed the case of what killed the dinosaurs, definitively linking their extinction with an asteroid that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago by finding a key piece of evidence: asteroid dust inside the impact crater.
Habitable Zones & Global Climate
Oxygen As A Control Over 2.4 Billion Years Of Earth's Atmospheric Evolution
Since the formation of the terrestrial planets, atmospheric loss has irreversibly altered their atmospheres, leading to remarkably different surface environments - Earth has remained habitable while Venus and Mars are apparently desolate.
Habitable Zones & Global Climate
The Rotational And Divergent Components Of Atmospheric Circulation On Tidally Locked Planets
Tidally locked exoplanets likely host global atmospheric circulations with a superrotating equatorial jet, planetary-scale stationary waves and thermally-driven overturning circulation.
More top stories from March.
Recent Releases
Recent Status Reports
Calendar
- 5 Mar: NASA Update on Perseverance ‘Firsts’ Since Mars Landing
- 6 Mar: UKSEDS National Student Space Conference 2021
- 17 Mar: NASA and the Rise of Commercial Space Symposium
- 17 Mar: NASA Advisory Council Aeronautics Committee Meeting
- 18 Mar: WSBR Presentation With Jeff Manber And Dylan Taylor
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