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Sixty percent of global land is outside safe biosphere limits, with human use of biomass driving widespread ecological strain. A new study provides the first detailed mapping of the planetary boundary known as “functional biosphere integrity,” tracing its status across centuries and in specific regi...

Scientists have confirmed a potentially habitable fifth planet in the nearby L 98-59 system, revealing a diverse collection of rocky worlds that could harbor water or volcanic activity. A research team from the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) has completed the most detailed inve...

A new detection method reveals a potentially habitable super-Earth. The breakthrough boosts the search for life-supporting planets. “Are we alone?” This enduring question has fascinated humanity for generations. The discovery in 1995 of the first exoplanet orbiting a star similar to our ...

Early Earth lacked life’s essentials until a collision with Theia added them. This chance event made life possible. After the Solar System formed, it took no more than three million years for the proto-Earth to finish developing its chemical composition, according to a new study from the Institute o...

A newly identified Earth-sized exoplanet with a year-long orbit may lie near its star’s habitable zone, but extreme cold could limit its chances of hosting liquid water. HD 137010 b is a newly identified planet that appears broadly similar to Earth, but with one important caveat. Despite its Earth-l...

Tiny zircon crystals are revealing that Earth’s earliest history may have included surprisingly complex tectonic activity. Earth today is built around recycling. Old crust sinks, melts, and returns as new rock. A new zircon study suggests that kind of cycling may have started shockingly early, in so...

An ultra-short period planet is spiraling toward destruction within 31 million years. Its extreme heat and dense composition reveal a violent past. Our circumstances here on the wondrous, life-supporting Earth can distort our view of the Universe. Our planet, with blue skies and a mild climate, is a...

As the ozone layer recovers, it’s also intensifying global warming. Researchers predict that by 2050, ozone will rank just behind carbon dioxide as a driver of heating, offsetting many of the benefits from banning CFCs. The planet is now expected to heat up more than scientists once predicted, and a...

Rocket emissions and re-entry pollutants threaten to delay ozone recovery, but coordinated action and cleaner propulsion could prevent long-term damage. The sharp increase in global rocket launches may hinder the recovery of the ozone layer, warns Sandro Vattioni. Although the risk is being underest...

JWST confirms GJ 1132 b lacks an atmosphere. This challenges the habitability of planets around M-dwarfs. Astronomers often encounter conflicting results when investigating cosmic questions. This is a normal aspect of the scientific method, as it highlights the need for more data to confirm or rejec...

White dwarfs may still host habitable planets. Conditions like tidal heating and migration shape their potential for life. The Sun will eventually die. This will occur when it exhausts the hydrogen fuel in its core and can no longer generate energy through nuclear fusion. While this stage is often i...

Stellar migration may greatly increase the number of habitable planets in the Milky Way. Future ESA missions will test these predictions with detailed exoplanet observations. What can the Galactic Habitable Zone (GHZ)—the region of a galaxy where complex life is thought most likely to arise—reveal a...

TRAPPIST-1e shows no signs of its first atmosphere, but hints of a secondary one remain. Liquid water could still be possible. Astrophysicists at the University of Bristol are contributing to new insights about an Earth-sized exoplanet located 40 light years away, where liquid water could exist as e...

JWST data hints that Trappist-1e may have an atmosphere. More transits will test if this world could support liquid water. Recent observations with NASA’s advanced JWST telescope have revealed a planet located 41 light-years from Earth that may possess an atmosphere. This planet orbits within the “h...