César Menor Salván

Until now, one hypothesis suggested that life on Earth could have arisen from lightning striking a body of water. However, a new study claims that the synthesis of molecules necessary for the emergence of life could have originated from ‘micro-lightning’ in water droplets. According to the study, published in Science Advances, the formation of organic compounds with carbon-nitrogen bonds from gas molecules could be a possible mechanism for creating the basic components of life on the early Earth.

The red colour of Mars corresponds to a type of ferrihydrite that is the dominant form of iron oxide in Martian dust, although previous studies have attributed it to anhydrous haematite. The persistence of ferrihydrite, whose formation requires water, suggests that it formed during a cold, wet period, followed by a transition to the planet's current arid environment. The result, based on ESA and NASA space data and new laboratory experiments, is published in Nature Communications.

US researchers have published a model showing that ice in the mid-latitudes of Mars could allow photosynthetic life to develop. Its thickness and composition would attenuate harmful ultraviolet radiation, but allow sufficient visible light to pass through. The work is published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Fifteen years ago, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Mars Express probe revealed the presence of large deep deposits on Mars, in an area called the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF), located at its equator. Now, new data from the probe's MARSIS radar indicate that the deposits are deeper than previously thought - up to 3.7 kilometers thick - and include both ice-rich and dusty layers. The results are published in Geophysical Research Letters.

A Japanese research team has announced in Nature Communications that it found uracil, a component necessary to form RNA, in a small sample collected from the asteroid Ryugu. According to the authors, these results indicate that these molecules of prebiotic interest were commonly formed on asteroids like Ryugu, and reached the early Earth with the impact of these bodies. The sample was collected by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Hayabusa2 robotic spacecraft, which returned to Earth in December 2020.

Based on a model, a study theorises that Mars may have been habitable for microorganisms 3.7 billion years ago, according to the journal Nature Astronomy.