20 December 2017
Methane-producing microorganisms suggest life in the Universe is common
... fossils had formed, therefore Schopf believes that advanced photosynthesis had not yet evolved. Instead, these microorganisms appear to have performed a primitive form of photosynthesis, while another apparently produced methane gas, and two others...
August 2016
Long-term spaceflight and microbiological safety issues
... field gradients, etc. Russian orbital space station operational experience shows that processes like the growth of microorganisms can damage polymer-based construction materials. Metal bio-corrosion, the formation of biofilms and thrombus in the...
26 October 2015
Skin deep: news study of the ISS and Actinobacteria
Published in Microbiome, a new analysis of microorganisms living aboard the International Space Station has found an unusually high proportion of bacteria specifically found on human ...
September 2016
Life in the extremes: confessions of an astrobiologist
... greatest planetary protection efforts are put in place in order to make sure that only a very minimal amount of microorganisms and other biological material, if any, is transported away from Earth. The problem is that many years of trying...
May 2017
Growing plants without gravity
...mizuna plants showed a lack of disease-causing microorganisms on mizuna leaves in spaceflight and analysis of ...of the mizuna plant. The average amount of aerophilous microorganisms corresponded to the normal amounts recommended for nutrition with ...
August 2017
Planning for health, sex and sleep on a future Mars colony
... alters the virulence of some pathogens; consequently, colonists may be susceptible to infection from their own microbiomes, the microorganisms that typically exist within the body. Given the close quarters in which the colonists would have...
