The search for life beyond Earth has always been full of surprises. Strange radio signals have sparked excitement. Odd gases on distant worlds have raised questions. Even ordinary objects have been ...

Some of these approaches may show promise, but new research indicates much of today’s AI is even more easily duped by false ...

Are we alone in the universe? Consider mysterious "extraterrestrial" radio signals. Unexplained gases on other planets.

Scientists are calling for a lunar quarantine facility where samples from Mars, the Moon, and beyond would be examined before being brought to Earth. They warn that even a tiny alien microorganism ...

Could aliens exist without DNA? Explore the complex role of DNA and its alternatives in the universe. As we uncover the ...

This video starts with a simple question — does life really need DNA? — and then turns it into something much bigger. From RNA worlds and TNA protocells to exotic XNAs, methane-compatible chemistries, ...

Something incredible has been hiding in Mars’s frozen deserts. It’s taken over 10 years for one robot to pick it up. But it took an engineering feat and a high-stakes gamble to bring it to light. An ...

Astronomers have detected the first true sugar molecule in the space between stars — a four-carbon compound called erythrulose — and its presence narrows one of origin-of-life research's most ...

We've been looking at nature the wrong way, argues Rowan Hooper. If we stop focusing on the individual, we get a whole new picture of how life on Earth – and elsewhere – may have begun ...

NASA’s Curiosity rover has come across the best proof that there was once life on Mars. The discovery from a rock sample Curiosity drilled in 2020 possessed the largest variety of organic molecules ...

Scientist who established productive growth of HIV in an immortalised cell line, which led to the development of the UK’s first antibody test for the virus The virologist Robin Weiss, who has died ...

Out of the 6,000 known exoplanets, it's these rocky worlds that are most worthy of attention in the search for life beyond our planet. Reading time 3 minutes In humanity’s search for life beyond Earth ...