Recent News

Coastal hike near Rush with the ProtoSigns Lab group in preparation for the group's field work in Svalbard - geological features, fossils, and wildlife spotted!

Our recent work on the biogenicity of bleached spots was featured in the 13th July 2026 episode of BBC Four's "The Sky at Night".

Here, my MSc supervisor details our findings and their implications for any potential biosignatures detected by the Perseverence rover.

The Sky at Night - The Aliens Next Door?Could alien life exist closer than we think - perhaps right next door? The team investigate evidence that suggests the search for life beyond Earth may lie within our own solar system.

AbSciCon 2026

Astrobiology Science Conference 2026 - what an event! Hello, Madison, Wisconsin!

My first time presenting at a conference, I was lucky enough to get the chance to discuss both my new findings at ProtoSigns Lab, investigating the pre/abiotic causes of bleached spot formation, as well as to participate in conversations surrounding my prior work from Edinburgh on the topic of microbial iron reduction.

The abstract for my oral presentation can be found here.

The abstract for my prior work, presented by Dr. Sean McMahon, can be found here.

Experimental Evidence for a Microbial Origin of Reduction Spots in Red Beds on Earth - and Mars?

Over the course of the work involved in my MSc dissertation on the biogenicity of bleached spots in red beds on Earth and Mars, we observed that iron-reducing microorganisms can indeed produce bleached spots in ferruginous sediments, suggesting that bleached/reduction spots in red beds on Earth—and the similar "leopard spots" recently investigated by the Perseverance Rover on Mars—could be considered as a potential biosignature.

Following on from our preprint, this work has now been peer-reviewed and published in Astrobiology (Volume 26, Issue 6) - and I am very flattered to say that it also features as the front cover for the issue!

https://doi.org/10.1177/15311074261464015

Joining ProtoSigns Lab

As of October 2025, I have started my PhD journey as part of the team of incredible researchers over at ProtoSigns Lab - an astrobiology/origin of life group at Dublin City University led by PI Dr. Seán Jordan, investigating the transition from chemistry to biology at the origin of life.

The Tartan Tardigrade Podcast

"In this special Tartan Tardigrade episode, Mia Belle Frothingham, PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh, interviews 5 MSc students currently in the Astrobiology and Planetary Sciences MSc at Edinburgh. We will learn about their individual interest in astrobiology, what astrobiology questions they are working on, and how the programme has benefitted their long-term career goals."

In July 2025, I was honoured to participate in the recording of the Tartan Tardigrade special episode as an invited interviewee. We spoke about my plans for the future and how my MSc degree has impacted how I approach research and the field of astrobiology as a whole.

FALCON 2025 (Frontiers in Astrobiology and Origins of Life Conference)

In June 2025, I had the great pleasure of attending FALCON 2025 as my first astrobiology conference.

Surrounded by the many beautiful, unique sites that can be found in Iceland, I spent the week networking, listening to talks at the cutting edge of both astrobiology and OoL science, and participating in round table discussions.

MINAR XII - Boulby Underground Laboratory

Alongside other members of the UK Centre for Astrobiology, I was invited to attend talks and tour the Boulby Underground Laboratory as part of the annual Mine Analogue Research (MINAR) field event in December 2024.

Investigating Salt Structure Formation at Different Pressures in the Context of a Martian Paleobarometer

Following on from the discovery of the "Mars Flower" by the Curiosity rover on Mars, I investigated the morphology of evaporties of different salts at different pressures in order to see if changes in shape or structure of these "flowers" could function as a form of barometer.

I was trained in the operation of the low-pressure Mars Chamber at the UK Centre for Astrobiology and in laboratory protocol for both chemistry and geology labs.

Age, Distance, and Mass Function of Milky Way Star Clusters

Remote observations of Milky Way open star clusters M 52 and NGC 7789 were taken using the PIRATE telescope at Teide Observatory. This group project resulted in a deep understanding of the astrophysical process, from initial observation, to creating an image pipeline, to applying corrections to images due to dust reddening or red shift.

As a result, the team was able to compare our values for the age, distance, and mass function of the star clusters to those found in literature.