Strap in – it’s time to meet your ancient ancestors! Fossilized microbial communities in Western Australia are helping scientists hone their skills for detecting potential ancient life on Mars. Join us on an expedition to see what our own backyard can teach us about the search for life elsewhere... alongside members of NASA Mars, European Space Agency, Australian Space Agency, and CSIRO. Dive into the details:show more

A great video! But unfortunately fails to acknowledge "any research, educational or media (including social media posts) produced from your visit makes clear that permits are required for entry into the reserves, and that your work was conducted under a valid permit."

Hello! I hope you’re well! I just had a question : what can life on Earth teach us about life elsewhere? For working with a single data point, and applying it to the rest of life, seems quite hard - how do you guys solve this problem? Thank you so much!

This is an excellent question and one that astrobiologists wrestle with because it's a big challenge for our field! We study life on Earth - its patterns, history, and limits - to understand what signatures of life may be universal. And we search beyond Earth for environments that may be suitable for life, and for the signs of life, as we understand it. At the same time, we're working to identify ways to detect life in an "agnostic" fashion, using characteristics not specific for Earth life. You can learn more about these efforts led by the Laboratory for Agnostic Biosignatures here:

You don't seem to have read the fine print of your permit to enter these sites @NASAAstrobio that includes "all members of the party are made aware of their obligations when entering and working within the reserves." #pleasedobetter