Timothy Lyons

Orange rivers signal toxic shift in Arctic wilderness

Tracie Ventimiglia — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 17:45:33 +0000

Orange rivers signal toxic shift in Arctic wilderness Tracie Ventimiglia Thu, 09/11/2025 - 10:45 More News Jules Bernstein September 08, 2025

n Alaska’s Brooks Range, rivers once clear enough to drink from now run orange and hazy with toxic metals. As warming thaws formerly frozen ground, it sets off a chemical chain reaction that is poisoning fish and wreaking havoc on ecosystems.

As the planet warms, a layer of permafrost — permanently frozen Arctic soil that locked away minerals for millennia — is beginning to thaw. Water and oxygen creep into the newly exposed soil, triggering the breakdown of sulfide-rich rocks, and creating sulfuric acid that leaches naturally occurring metals like iron, cadmium, and aluminum from rocks into the river.

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Timothy Lyons

Exponentially increasing understanding of early life on Earth

Tracie Ventimiglia — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 17:49:56 +0000

Exponentially increasing understanding of early life on Earth Tracie Ventimiglia Fri, 06/20/2025 - 10:49 More News Nicole Elyse Feldman July 08, 2024

Despite decades of research, there’s still much scholars don’t understand about life’s beginnings and early evolution. A UC Riverside paper has opened the door to understanding more and to framing future studies that could help predict climate change and the search for life beyond Earth.

“This paper strives to inform the Earth sciences community where the research needs to go next,” said Christopher Tino, a UCR PhD candidate during the time of research and a first author.

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Timothy Lyons

Tiniest Ever Ancient Seawater Pockets Revealed

Mayra Gandarilla — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 19:47:04 +0000

Tiniest Ever Ancient Seawater Pockets Revealed Mayra Gandarilla Wed, 01/04/2023 - 11:47 More News Jules Bernstein November 22, 2022

Trapped for millennia, the tiniest liquid remnants of an ancient inland sea have now been revealed. The surprising discovery of seawater sealed in what is now North America for 390 million years opens up a new avenue for understanding how oceans change and adapt with changing climate.

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Timothy Lyons

Extraterrestrial objects likely delayed complex life on Earth

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 18:24:27 +0000

Extraterrestrial objects likely delayed complex life on Earth Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 10/29/2021 - 11:24 More News October 22, 2021

"New evidence shows the number of ancient, large celestial bodies that crashed into Earth was up to 10 times higher than previously believed. This finding has led a team including a UC Riverside scientist to conclude that these collisions likely shaped the development of Earth’s chemistry early in its history.

The team’s work is detailed in a recent Nature Geoscience article. Impacts by asteroids or comets during the earliest years of Earth’s history likely contributed to the beginnings of life and its early evolution, yet later they delayed the development of more complex life forms that require oxygen.

Astrobiology, Exoplanets and Planetary Science

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Timothy Lyons

Using Earth’s history to inform the search for life on exoplanets

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 17:31:40 +0000

Using Earth’s history to inform the search for life on exoplanets Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/14/2020 - 09:31 More News December 08, 2020

"UC Riverside is leading one of the NASA Astrobiology Program’s eight new research teams tackling questions about the evolution and origins of life on Earth and the possibility of life beyond our solar system.

The teams comprise the inaugural class of NASA’s Interdisciplinary Consortia for Astrobiology Research program. The UCR-led team is motivated by the fundamental question of how to detect planets that could host life and remain habitable despite tremendous change over time, which requires hunting for biological gases in the atmospheres of planets light years beyond our solar system."

Astrobiology

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Timothy Lyons

Ancient meteorite site on Earth could reveal new clues about Mars’ past

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 22:49:04 +0000

Ancient meteorite site on Earth could reveal new clues about Mars’ past Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/03/2020 - 14:49 More News February 26, 2020

Scientists have devised new analytical tools to break down the enigmatic history of Mars’ atmosphere — and whether life was once possible there.

A paper detailing the work was published today in the journal Science Advances. It could help astrobiologists understand the alkalinity, pH and nitrogen content of ancient waters on Mars, and by extension, the carbon dioxide composition of the planet’s ancient atmosphere.

Exoplanets and Planetary Science

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Timothy Lyons

Campus to celebrate 50th anniversary of historic Moon landing

Anonymous — Fri, 12 Jul 2019 16:09:11 +0000

Campus to celebrate 50th anniversary of historic Moon landing Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/12/2019 - 09:09 More News July 08, 2019

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 Moon mission. To celebrate, the University of California, Riverside, is hosting a free public event on Thursday, July 11, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

Attendees will have an opportunity to learn more about the Apollo 11 legacy, as well as current missions to our solar-system’s planets and moons. The event, which will take place in Pierce Lawn and the Life Sciences Building, will also feature telescope viewings of the moon, and multiple hands-on activities.

Astrobiology, Exoplanets and Planetary Science

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Timothy Lyons

Stephen Kane

New study dramatically narrows the search for advanced life in the universe

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 16:49:54 +0000

New study dramatically narrows the search for advanced life in the universe Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/19/2019 - 09:49 More News June 10, 2019 Riverside, Ca

"RVERSIDE, CA – Scientists may need to rethink their estimates for how many planets outside our solar system could host a rich diversity of life.

In a new study, a UC Riverside–led team discovered that a buildup of toxic gases in the atmospheres of most planets makes them unfit for complex life as we know it."

Exoplanets and Planetary Science

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Timothy Lyons

New NASA research consortium to tackle life's origins

Anonymous — Wed, 08 May 2019 16:04:04 +0000

New NASA research consortium to tackle life's origins Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/08/2019 - 09:04 More News February 14, 2019 Riverside, Ca

Did life on Earth originate in Darwin's warm little pond, on a sunbaked shore, or where hot waters vent into the deep ocean? And could a similar emergence have played out on other bodies in our solar system or planets far beyond? These questions lie at the center of research in NASA's new Prebiotic Chemistry and Early Earth Environments, or PCE3, Consortium.

One of five cross-divisional research coordination networks with the NASA Astrobiology Program, PCE3 aims to identify planetary conditions that might give rise to life's chemistry. One goal of PCE3 is to guide future NASA missions targeting discovery of habitable worlds.

Astrobiology

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Timothy Lyons

Special journal issue looks for new clues about old life

Anonymous — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 21:56:17 +0000

Special journal issue looks for new clues about old life Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/05/2018 - 13:56 More News October 22, 2018 Riverside, Ca

"Hundreds of millions of years before there was a chicken or an egg to debate, the first complex animals were evolving in parallel with Earth’s rising oxygen levels. But what came first — animals or oxygen? That question is the central theme of a special issue of Emerging Topics in Life Sciences published Sept. 28 by Portland Press. Titled “Early Earth and the Rise of Complex Life,” the issue was edited by UC Riverside’s Timothy Lyons, a distinguished professor of biogeochemistry, along with UCR professor Mary Droser and postdoctoral researcher Kimberly Lau, and Susannah Porter, a professor at UC Santa Barbara. Several of the 18 articles included in the collection were authored or co-authored by UCR researchers."

Paleontology, Paleobiology, Paleoecology

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Mary Droser

Timothy Lyons