Countering contamination for Mars spacesuits

To search for life on Mars, future astronauts would naturally want to step outside their living habitat for a walk. But the spacesuits keeping them alive might also carry Earth microbes or ingredients of life that could contaminate ...

NASA disavows its scientist's claim of alien life (Update 3)

The gaps and stringy fibers in these space rocks sure look like bacteria, and a NASA researcher has caused a stir with claims that they're fossils of alien life. But as NASA found 15 years ago, looks can be deceiving.

Stepping stones through time

Stromatolites are the most ancient fossils on Earth, and these structures built by microbes can still be found forming today in various places around the globe. Although they provide a straight line of life’s history ...

Mars Contamination Dust-Up

A new study finds that microbes on spacecraft might be able to survive on Mars longer than previously thought. The key to their survival? Dust.

Image: BioRock and roll

This fluorescent work of art captures the beauty of biofilms, or the growth of microbes on rocks. In this microscopic image, Sphingomonas desiccabilis is growing on basalt.

page 3 from 4