[Thursday, March 1, 2007] NASA has funded the Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer (DEPTHX) mission to develop and test technologies that might someday be used to explore the oceans hidden under the icy crust of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

[Friday, March 2, 2007] The purpose of this report is to tell the story of carbon: to follow carbon through a variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments.

[Friday, March 2, 2007] NASA has released images that provide further evidence that water once flowed beneath the martian surface. Photos of Candor Chasma have revealed rock that appears to have been chemically altered by the long-term presence of flowing water.

[Monday, March 5, 2007] Scientists have discovered a large area thousands of square kilometres in extent in the middle of the Atlantic where the Earth's crust appears to be missing. Instead, the mantle is exposed on the seafloor, 3000m below the surface.

[Monday, March 5, 2007] ESA, the international Committee for Space Research (COSPAR) and NASA have decided to honour Professor Hubert Curien's contribution to European space by naming the Huygens landing site on Saturn's largest moon, Titan, after him.

[Thursday, March 8, 2007] Scientists return this week to the world’s deepest known sinkhole, Cenote Zacatón in Mexico, to resume tests of a NASA-funded robot called DEPTHX, designed to survey and explore for life in one of Earth’s most extreme regions and potentially in outer spac

[Monday, March 12, 2007] A hot start billions of years ago might have set into motion the forces that power geysers on Saturn's moon Enceladus. The scalding conditions are also favorable for the formation of simple hydrocarbon chains, basic building blocks of life.

[Tuesday, March 13, 2007] Cassini has found evidence for seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, on Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth.

[Wednesday, March 14, 2007] Some bright Martian soil containing lots of sulfur and a trace of water intrigues researchers who are studying information provided by NASA's Spirit rover.

[Thursday, March 15, 2007] New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 36 feet deep.

[Thursday, March 15, 2007] The amount of water trapped in frozen layers over Mars' south polar region is equivalent to a liquid layer about 11 metres deep covering the planet. This new estimate comes from mapping the thickness of the dusty ice by the Mars Express radar instrument.

[Friday, March 16, 2007] Researchers have determined the three-dimensional structure of an RNA enzyme. Their results provide insight into what may have been the first self-replicating molecule to arise billions of years ago on the evolutionary path toward the emergence of life.

[Wednesday, March 21, 2007] Michael J. Daly, Ph.D. and his colleagues have uncovered evidence pointing to the mechanism through which the extremely resilient bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans protects itself from high doses of ionizing radiation.

[Friday, March 23, 2007] Remember me?  The little teddy bear that sent you e-mails from Antarctica back in December?  Well I've been invited to join the NASA Spacebound Mojave expedition that will be taking place beginning next week. 

[Friday, March 23, 2007] NASA scientists and teachers will step back in time as they investigate the Mojave Desert to study the unique geologic formations and the supremely adapted microbes that call it home.

[Friday, March 23, 2007] Searching for clues to the potential for life on Mars, NASA scientists recently explored microbial communities in China's northwest region, and found evidence suggesting that conditions there may be similar to those in certain regions of Mars.

[Saturday, March 24, 2007] Maps of the sea surface temperature around Galapagos Islands and Cocos Island in the Pacific Ocean are being produced daily and are available online in full resolution in near-real time as part of the Medspiration project.

[Thursday, March 29, 2007] Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have observed that planetary systems – dusty disks of asteroids, comets and possibly planets – are at least as abundant in twin-star systems as they are in those, like our own, with only one star. 

[Friday, March 30, 2007] Join us as we talk to Frank Drake and Jill Tarter about their efforts to find extraterrestrials. We'll also chat about the new Harvard optical SETI telescope, how we might converse with aliens, and debate whether SETI is worth the effort.

[Saturday, March 31, 2007] "One of the most satisfying aspects of astrobiology is the quality of the students and young researchers it attracts. I am particularly gratified by the quality of a recent applicant pool to the NAI Postdoctoral Fellowship Program."