Publications

The page highlights publications arising from research supported by the Leverhulme Centre for Life in the Universe (LCLU). The publications listed below have been enabled through LCLU-funded research projects and collaborations across the Centre's scientific themes.

The page is updated regularly to reflect the latest research outputs from across the Centre. Conference presentations, preprints, and other research outputs are also included where relevant to showcase ongoing research activities.

 

The plausibility of origins scenarios requiring two impactors

Richard J. Anslow, Amy Bonsor, Paul B. Rimmer, Auriol S. P. Rae, Catriona H. McDonald and Craig R. Walton
Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, vol. 481, issue 2306, 2025.


Constraining the survival of HCN during cometary impacts
Catriona H. McDonald, Amy Bonsor, Auriol S. P. Rae, Paul B. Rimmer, Richard J. Anslow and Zoe R. Todd
Icarus, vol. 441, Article 116704, 2025.


The atmospheric entry of cometary impactors
Richard J. Anslow, Amy Bonsor, Zoe R. Todd, Robin Wordsworth, Auriol S. P. Rae, Catriona H. McDonald and Paul B. Rimmer
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 539, no. 1, pp. 376-392, 2025.


Atmospheric characterization and tighter constraints on the orbital misalignment of WASP-94 A b with HARPS
E. Ahrer, J. V. Seidel, L. Doyle, S. Gandhi, B. Prinoth, H. M. Cegla, C. H. McDonald et al.
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, vol. 530, issue 3, pp. 2749-2759, 2024.

Photosynthetic fractionation of carbon: A biological driver for the Neoproterozoic Shuram carbon isotope excursion
E. Furness, Emily G. Mitchell
Precambrian Research, 2025.

Diversity of ancient clay mineral morphotypes: case studies of lacustrine deposits before and after the evolution of land plants
W.J. McMahon, N.S. Davies, C. Wheeler, S.C. Löhr
Journal of the Geological Society, 2025.

Charnia and other late Ediacaran macrofossils preserved in turbiditic deposits of the Indreelva Member (Finnmark, Norway)
Neil Davies et al.
Palaeontology, accepted for publication, 2026.
 

New Constraints on DMS and DMDS in the Atmosphere of K2-18 b from JWST MIRI
Nikku Madhusudhan, Savvas Constantinou, Måns Holmberg, Subhajit Sarkar, Anjali A. A. Piette, and Julianne I. Moses
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, 2025.


Cosmic dust fertilization of glacial prebiotic chemistry on early Earth
Craig R. Walton, J. K. Rigley, A. Lipp et al.
Nature Astronomy, vol. 8, pp. 556-566, 2024.

Large closed-basin lakes sustainably supplied phosphate during the origins of life
Craig R.Walton, Jihua Hao, Maria Schoenbachler and Oliver Shorttle
Science Advances, vol. 11, eadq0027, 2025.

Re-accretion of Giant Impact Ejecta Drives Significant and Sometimes Complete Atmospheric Loss
Tuhin Ghosh, Mark Wyatt, Oliver Shorttle
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 544, Issue 2, December 2025, Pages 2120–2135

Episodic Warm Climates on Early Mars Primed by Crustal Hydration
Danica Adams, Markus Scheucher, Renyu Hu, Bethany Ehlmann, Robin Wordsworth et al.
Nature Geoscience, vol. 18, pp. 133-139, 2025.

Greenhouse warming potential of a suite of gas species on early Mars evaluated using a radiative-convective climate model
Jorge, Wordsworth and Adams
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 2024.

 

Self-Sustaining Living Habitats in Extraterrestrial Environments
Robin Wordsworth and Charles Cockell
Astrobiology, vol. 24, no. 12, pp. 1187-1195, 2024.

Repeated Snowball-Hothouse Cycles within the Neoproterozoic Sturtian Glaciation
C. Minsky, Robin Wordsworth, D. T. Johnston and A. H. Knoll
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2026.

Geochemical Climate Regulation Beyond Earth
Robin Wordsworth and C. Minsky
Elements, vol. 22, issue 1, pp. 5-6, 2026.

DOI: 10.2138/gselements.22.1.5
 

Do-Nothing Prebiotic Chemistry: Chemical Kinetics as a Window into Prebiotic Plausibility
Skyla B. White and Paul B. Rimmer
Accounts of Chemical Research, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 1-10, 2025.

 

Nitrogen chemistry of Hycean worlds on the example of K2-18b
Maja W Radecka, Paul B. Rimmer 

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 543, Issue 1, October 2025, Pages 789–812