The Mars we know today is a cold, dry world of dust and rocks. However, around 3.8–3.6 billion years ago, it may have looked very different. Geological and mineral evidence suggests that, in its distant past, the planet experienced ...
Astrobiology
Oct 1, 2026
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Is there life elsewhere, or is Earth unique in the universe? This is one of humanity's great unanswered questions. One way to approach this mystery is to investigate how life began here on Earth. Our research explores the ...
Astrobiology
Sep 30, 2026
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Four and a half billion years ago, Earth and Mars were born in the rotating cloud of gas and dust that would eventually become our solar system. Yet exactly how the planets formed remains one of the most disputed questions ...
Astrobiology
Sep 30, 2026
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240
Although Mars may have once resembled Earth, the rocky red planet now appears far from hospitable. Still, certain details—such as ice-bound water—pique researchers' curiosity. As on Earth, ice on Mars contains valuable records ...
Astrobiology
Sep 30, 2026
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New research led by the University of Michigan is helping set the stage for future observatories to characterize rocky planets outside our solar system, planets that could prove life isn't confined to Earth. The new research ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2026
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Scientists have helped solve a longstanding mystery about how Earth remained habitable after oxygen first accumulated in its atmosphere more than 2 billion years ago, providing evidence that ancient ocean chemistry sustained ...
Astrobiology
Sep 29, 2026
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In the search for extraterrestrial life, it makes sense to first look for rocky planets with an atmosphere, like Earth. Without an atmosphere, a planet can't have surface water. But of the more than 6,300 exoplanets cataloged ...
Astrobiology
Sep 24, 2026
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When the universe was still in its infancy—only 500 million years after the Big Bang, or about 3% of its current age—some of the universe's earliest stars and galaxies had already formed. Astronomers have long predicted that ...
Astrobiology
Sep 24, 2026
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When astronauts first travel to Mars or anywhere else in deep space, they will have to contend with two problems that our planet protects us from on its surface—radiation and weightlessness. Scientists already know both can ...
Space Exploration
Oct 14, 2026
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NASA experiments focused on human and plant health and drug-resistant organisms will travel to the International Space Station aboard SpaceX's 35th Commercial Resupply Services mission for the agency from Cape Canaveral Space ...
Astronomy
Oct 13, 2026
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