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    Microbial growth in simulated Mars conditions could guide search for life

    November 8, 2026, Categories  Uncategorized

    This SEM micrograph (12,000x magnification) shows Haloferax volcanii after 160 days of anaerobic incubation with 100 mM nitrate under low-pressure Martian conditions (24 mbar); high-magnification imaging shows predominantly spherical cells located outside, immediately beneath, and embedded within an extensive biofilm matrix; thin appendage-like structures and associations among adjacent cells are also visible. Scale bar – 1 µm. Image credit: Robinson et al., doi: 10.1128/aem.01749-26.

    A new experiment reveals that Earth’s microbes can grow in harsh conditions similar to what may exist just below the surface of Mars, suggesting new directions in the search for potential cellular life on the red planet.

    The microbes grew over months in just a fraction of Earth’s normal atmospheric ...

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    Studying fungi to keep space travelers safe on new worlds

    July 12, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space, Biology/Biotechnology

    Dominant fungal population and succession patterns observed in 30-day occupation period of the ILMAH system. The OTUs presented in the bar graph are the most abundant. T20 surface samples show different fungal profile when compared to other time points. T30 samples show increase in fungal diversity when compared to other time point

    Dominant fungal population and succession patterns observed in 30-day occupation period of the ILMAH system. The OTUs presented in the bar graph are the most abundant. T20 surface samples show different fungal profile when compared to other time points. T30 samples show increase in fungal diversity when compared to other time point

    Human presence in closed habitats that may one day be used to explore other planets is associated with changes in the composition of the fungal community – the mycobiome – that grows on surfaces inside the habitat, according to a study published in the open access journal Microbiome.
     
    Dr Kasthuri Venkateswaran, Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech, and corresponding author of the study said: “Our study is the firs...
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