Call for a framework for reporting evidence for life beyond Earth.

Our generation could realistically be the one to discover evidence of life beyond Earth. With this privileged potential comes responsibility. The magnitude of the question of whether we are alone in the Universe, and the public interest therein, opens the possibility that results may be taken to imply more than the observations support, or than the observers intend.

FameLab USA: Improving Science Communication Skills for Early Career Scientists.

FameLab International is a science communication competition for early career scientists pioneered by the Cheltenham Science Festival in the United Kingdom in 2005. At its heart is training in the best practices and techniques of good communication. NASA's Astrobiology Program and its partners implemented FameLab USA, one of over 30 implementations around the globe, from 2012 to 2016.

The Ladder of Life Detection.

We describe the history and features of the Ladder of Life Detection, a tool intended to guide the design of investigations to detect microbial life within the practical constraints of robotic space missions. To build the Ladder, we have drawn from lessons learned from previous attempts at detecting life and derived criteria for a measurement (or suite of measurements) to constitute convincing evidence for indigenous life. We summarize features of life as we know it, how specific they are to life, and how they can be measured, and sort these features in a general sense based on their likelihood of indicating life.

Aspergillus penicillioides differentiation and cell division at 0.585 water activity.

Water availability acts as the most stringent constraint for life on Earth. Thus, understanding the water relations of microbial extremophiles is imperative to our ability to increase agricultural productivity (e.g.

The effect of sediment mixing on mercury dynamics in two intertidal mudflats at Great Bay Estuary, New Hampshire, USA.

Estuarine sediments store particulate contaminants including mercury (Hg). We studied Hg sediment dynamics in two intertidal mudflats at Great Bay estuary, NH, over multiple years. Sediments at both mudflats were physically mixed down to ~10 cm, as determined by Be measurements, albeit via different mechanisms.