Caves have been used in the ancient past as shelter or habitat by many organisms (including humans). Since antiquity, humans have explored caves for the minerals they contain and sometimes for ceremonial purposes. Over the past century, caves have become the target of increasing exploration, scientific research, and recreation. The use of caves on extraterrestrial bodies for human habitation ha...

Yellowstone Lake (Yellowstone National Park, WY, USA) is a large high-altitude (2200 m), fresh-water lake, which straddles an extensive caldera and is the center of significant geothermal activity. The primary goal of this interdisciplinary study was to evaluate the microbial populations inhabiting thermal vent communities in Yellowstone Lake using 16S rRNA gene and random metagenome sequencing...

At the most fundamental level, interand intramolecular forces delineate the interface between a microorganism and a mineral surface. A new technique, termed biological force microscopy (BFM), is described that can be used to directly probe the dynamics of the mineral–microbe interface. BFM quantiŽ es attractive and repulsive forces in the nano-Newton range between living microbial cells and min...

Bacterial weathering plays a significant role in rock weathering, yet only limited number of studies were conducted on this topic. The recent rapid developments geomicrobiology are expected to increase the pace research area. extent and duration biological processes mineral samples minerals preferred by bacteria still not fully understood due wide variety both bacterial species types. Biologica...

First reported in the 1960s, offshore freshened groundwater (OFG) has now been documented most continental margins around world. In this review we compile a database documenting OFG occurrences and analyze it to establish general characteristics controlling factors. We also assess methods used map characterize OFG, identify major knowledge gaps, propose strategies address them. global volume of...

Sediments from a high-level nuclear waste plume were collected as part of investigations to evaluate the potential fate and migration of contaminants in the subsurface. The plume originated from a leak that occurred in 1962 from a waste tank consisting of high concentrations of alkali, nitrate, aluminate, Cr(VI), (137)Cs, and (99)Tc. Investigations were initiated to determine the distribution o...

The search for extrasolar planets has already detected rocky planets and several planetary candidates with minimum masses that are consistent with rocky planets in the habitable zone of their host stars. A low-resolution spectrum in the form of a color-color diagram of an exoplanet is likely to be one of the first post-detection quantities to be measured for the case of direct detection. In thi...

On Earth, photosynthetic organisms are responsible for the production of virtually all the oxygen in the atmosphere. On land, vegetation reflects in the visible and leads to a "red edge," which developed about 450 million years ago on Earth and has been proposed as a biosignature for life on extrasolar planets. However, in many regions on Earth, particularly where surface conditions are extreme...