Looking for molecular evidence of life on other worlds is tricky, but a test based on the reactivity of carbon compounds ...

Chalk up another victory for “Conan the Bacterium”—a rugged germ that fresh research suggests could conquer the solar system.

You’ve probably followed the Mars rover missions on and off for years, watching those red-dust landscapes scroll across your TV screen and wondering: Could something have lived there once? Now, after ...

NASA’s Curiosity rover has spent roughly six months exploring a geological feature on Mars known as boxwork: a vast network of low rock ridges, about 3–6 feet (1–2 meters) tall, crisscrossing the ...

Beyond that, in the decades to come, we might be able to see the colours of an exoplanet’s surface, and determine if plant life might be present there. And then we can search for changes in a planet’s ...

Gary McKinnon, 60, rummaged through 97 US army and authorities websites in the early 1990s from his girlfriend’s aunt’s flat ...

New photos captured by NASA's Curiosity rover show that Mars' giant, spiderweb-like "boxwork" features are covered in tiny, never-before-seen nodules that bear a striking resemblance to arachnid ...

Gypsum is a soft, translucent sulfate mineral that allows just enough light to penetrate for photosynthetic organisms to survive inside, while also protecting them from being desiccated or exposed to ...

Why it matters: While not evidence of life, these discoveries show that ancient Mars had complex organic chemistry, ...

Aliens exist – they just haven't visited Earth, a NASA veteran has claimed. Dr Gentry Lee has worked at the US space agency since 1968, when he first got involved with the Viking mission to Mars. He ...

NASA’s Curiosity rover has uncovered the largest organic molecules ever detected on Mars. Hidden inside a 3.7 ...

Astrobiologists say we could find evidence of microbial life within the next 10–20 years. What does that mean? Where are we looking? Projects, chronology, explained ...