Habitability is a widely used word in the geoscience, planetary science, and astrobiology
literature, but what does it mean? In this review on habitability, we define it as the ability of …

The search for exoplanets includes the promise to eventually find and identify habitable
worlds. The thousands of known exoplanets and planet candidates are extremely diverse in …

The search for life in the Universe is a fundamental problem of astrobiology and modern
science. The current progress in the detection of terrestrial-type exoplanets has opened a …

Plate tectonics is a particular mode of tectonic activity that characterizes the present-day
Earth. It is directly linked to not only tectonic deformation but also magmatic/volcanic activity …

Water photolysis and hydrogen loss from the upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets is of
fundamental importance to climate evolution but remains poorly understood in general. Here …

During the past five decades, numerical modeling of subduction, one of the most
challenging and captivating geodynamic processes, remained in the core of geodynamic …

Weakening and shear localization in the lithosphere are essential ingredients for
understanding how and whether plate tectonics is generated from mantle convection on …

The habitable zone (HZ) is the circular region around a star (s) where standing bodies of
water could exist on the surface of a rocky planet. Space missions employ the HZ to select …

Abstract Models of thermal evolution, crustal production, and CO2 cycling are used to
constrain the prospects for habitability of rocky planets, with Earth-like size and composition …

Water is necessary for the origin and survival of life as we know it. In the search for life-
friendly worlds, water-rich planets therefore are obvious candidates and have attracted …