The atmosphere connects habitats across multiple spatial scales via airborne dispersal of
microbial cells, propagules and biomolecules. Atmospheric microorganisms have been …

Fungi of the genus Aspergillus are widespread in the environment. Some Aspergillus
species, most commonly Aspergillus fumigatus, may lead to a variety of allergic reactions …

Habitability is a widely used word in the geoscience, planetary science, and astrobiology
literature, but what does it mean? In this review on habitability, we define it as the ability of …

Traces of life are nearly ubiquitous on Earth. However, a central unresolved question is
whether these traces always indicate an active microbial community or whether, in extreme …

A committee of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) has reviewed and
updated the description of Special Regions on Mars as places where terrestrial organisms …

Archaea and Bacteria constitute a majority of life systems on Earth but have long been
considered inferior to Eukarya in terms of solute tolerance. Whereas the most halophilic …

The recent suggestion of phosphine in Venus's atmosphere has regenerated interest in the
idea of life in clouds. However, such analyses usually neglect the role of water activity, which …

Highlights•Disruption of cellular macromolecules by alcohols limits biofuel fermentations.•
Lignocellulose hydrolysis also generates chaotropic inhibitors (vanillin, phenolics …

While grounded in the hard sciences of physics, chemistry, geology, and astronomy, as well
as well-accepted principles in the life sciences, astrobiology remains the most speculative of …

Measures of microbial growth, used as indicators of cellular stress, are sometimes quantified
at a single time-point. In reality, these measurements are compound representations of …