How a nutrient spark turned Earth into an oxygen world

A new study has revealed how phosphorus, a nutrient essential for photosynthesis, surged into ancient oceans and started Earth's first major rise in atmospheric oxygen more than 2 billion years ago.

What do we do if SETI is successful?

The Search For Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is evolving. We've moved on from the limited thinking of monitoring radio waves to checking for interstellar pushing lasers or even budding Dyson swarms around stars. To ...

First-ever detection of 'heavy water' in a planet-forming disk

The discovery of ancient water in a planet-forming disk reveals that some of the water found in comets—and maybe even Earth—is older than the disk's star itself, offering breakthrough insights into the history of water in ...

Common yeast can survive Martian conditions

Any life on Mars in the past, present, or future would have to contend with challenging conditions including, among others, shock waves from meteorite impacts and soil perchlorates—highly oxidizing salts that destabilize ...

Cosmic dust could have sparked life on Earth

New research has found that amino acids, the building blocks of life, may have traveled to Earth on interstellar dust grains, potentially helping kickstart biology as we know it.

page 18 from 40