People have long wondered what life was first like on Earth, and if there is life in our solar system beyond our planet. Scientists have reason to believe that some of the moons in our solar system – ...

The microbe Pyrodictium abyssi is an archaeon—a member of what's known as the third domain of life—and an extremophile. It lives in deep-sea thermal vents, at temperatures above the boiling point of ...

Scientists discovered deep Arctic methane mounds that release gas, shape ecosystems, and inform climate risks.

Earth’s deep-sea hydrothermal vents provide a model for understanding how life could exist on Europa. Holden’s team is studying how vent microbes generate energy using hydrogenases to predict what ...

Methane is a menace to Earth’s climate, but to tiny spiders in the pitch-black depths of the ocean, it’s fuel for life. In a bizarre twist of nature, scientists have discovered three previously ...

In 2022, the research vessel Sonne journeyed to a remote corner of the ocean to retrieve samples from one of the most challenging environments on Earth. Using a sampling device called a gravity corer, ...

From Cape Town to Tehran to Lima to Phoenix, dozens of cities across the globe have recently experienced water shortages. In the next five years the world’s demand for fresh water could significantly ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) James F. Holden, UMass Amherst (THE CONVERSATION) People have long wondered what life ...