[Thursday, November 2, 2006] A recent photo from the Cassini spacecraft shows the mighty planet Saturn, and if you look very closely between its wing-like rings, a faint pinprick of light. That tiny dot is Earth bustling with life as we know it.

[Friday, November 3, 2006] Fulfilling the President's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) will require overcoming many challenges. Among these are the hazards of space radiation to crews traveling to the Moon and Mars.

[Monday, November 6, 2006] Scientists using the Swift satellite have spotted a stellar flare on a nearby star so powerful that, had it been from our sun, it would have triggered a mass extinction on Earth. The flare is the most energetic magnetic stellar explosion ever detected.

[Monday, November 6, 2006] "In 2010, a small unmanned research spacecraft designed by students will launch into Earth's orbit. We invite you to participate in this landmark mission by uploading content to be printed on our spacecraft."

[Monday, November 6, 2006] Organic haze in the atmosphere of Saturn's moon, Titan, is similar to haze in early Earth's air -- haze that may have helped nourish life on our planet-- according to a NASA Astrobiology Institute study released Nov. 6, 2006.

[Monday, November 6, 2006] It seems that there may be previously hidden biospheres that exist on Earth alongside our more familiar neighbors. One such community has been found deeply buried underground, while the other lives in the sea alongside more familiar life forms.

[Tuesday, November 7, 2006] Atmospheric scientists have reported a new and potentially important mechanism by which chemical emissions from ocean phytoplankton may influence the formation of clouds that reflect sunlight away from our planet.

[Tuesday, November 7, 2006] Researchers in computational biology and marine science have combined their diverse expertise and found that trace-metal usage by present-day organisms probably derives from major changes in ocean chemistry occurring over geological time scales.

[Thursday, November 9, 2006] Cold seeps are deep-sea environment where fluid is released through slow diffusion from the sea floor. These harsh conditions give rise to some of the most extreme and scientifically challenging environments for life to exist on the planet.

[Thursday, November 9, 2006] Over the last half century, researchers have found that mineral surfaces may have played critical roles organizing, or activating, molecules that would become essential ingredients to all life--such as amino acids and nucleic acids.

[Thursday, November 16, 2006] The laws of physics are not capricious, but seem to yearn for an inner beauty that scientists describe as symmetry

[Thursday, November 16, 2006] The launch of COROT is a long awaited event in the quest to find planets beyond our Solar System. Searching from above the Earth's atmosphere, COROT will be the first space mission specifically dedicated to the search for extrasolar planets.

[Thursday, November 16, 2006] Astrobiology uses space technologies to address some of the most profound questions of human kind: How did life begin? Are there other planets like Earth? and What is our future as terrestrial life expands beyond the home planet?

[Thursday, November 16, 2006] NAI investigators along with scientists from the Geological Survey of Finland and University of Waterloo, Canada, and Michigan State University recently completed a scientific drilling expedition into deep permafrost of the Canadian Arctic.

[Friday, November 17, 2006] A new article reveals how Dr. Miriam Andres' stromatolite investigation has begun to "fingerprint" ancient microbial pathways offering a new way to explore the origins of these living records, which are considered to be the core of most living organisms.

[Wednesday, November 22, 2006] "The MSL mission is planned for launch during the September-November 2009 time period on an expendable launch vehicle. The arrival date at Mars would range from mid-July 2010 to not later than mid-October 2010."

[Thursday, November 23, 2006] The USGS recently announced the names of 31 craters on the planet Mars. Among them is a crater named in honor of the late NASA astrobiologist Gerald (Gerry) Soffen.

[Friday, November 24, 2006] Below the swath of seemingly impenetrable ice that separates the station and the Royal Society Range, about 65 kilometers away, a riotous and colorful marine community thrives in McMurdo Sound.

[Saturday, November 25, 2006] The earth experienced its biggest mass extinction about 250 million years ago. New research shows that this mass extinction did more than eliminate species: it fundamentally changed the basic ecology of the world's oceans.

[Tuesday, November 28, 2006] The majority of all animal species on Earth, went extinct approximately 65 million years ago. A new study provides compelling evidence that "one and only one impact" caused the mass extinction, according to a University of Missouri-Columbia researcher.

[Wednesday, November 29, 2006] Two and a half billion years ago, when our evolutionary ancestors were little more than a twinkle in a bacterium's plasma membrane, the process known as photosynthesis suddenly gained the ability to release molecular oxygen into Earth's atmosphere.

[Thursday, November 30, 2006] NASA researchers have found organic materials that formed in the most distant reaches of the early Solar System preserved in a meteorite - the Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrite, a rare type of meteorite that is rich in organic compounds.

[Thursday, November 30, 2006] Rarely, if ever, has a federal R&D program sparked such broad impact in only a decade. Astrobiology science and/or educational activities exist at some level in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and in Puerto Rico.