A seminar by Professor Richard Hoover (Athens State University, USA, University of Buckingham, UK) “Perspectives in astrobiology: life in the cosmos” took place on 6 October 2016 in the Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics JINR.

Is life restricted to the planet Earth or more widely distributed across the Cosmos? What are the requirements for origin of life? These fundamental astrobiology questions were posed by the speaker; he also presented the results of the recent studies of the Earth’s polar regions, volcanoes, and deep sea hydrothermal vents. These studies have shown that life on Earth exists in the most extreme conditions. Life is found wherever water (or ice), biogenic elements and energy sources co-exist. The data obtained from satellites has show that such conditions are present in giant molecular clouds and, in fact, on virtually every planet of the Solar system from Mercury to Pluto, their icy satellites, comets and water-bearing asteroids.