The most significant molecules found are ethylene glycol and glyconitrize—both of which are ingredients for compounds in DNA ...

"We found that hundreds of exoplanets are larger than they appear, and that shifts our understanding of exoplanets on a large ...

One of the most exciting places to study resilient microbes, that survive without sunlight, is Europa, a moon of Jupiter, ...

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute have discovered complex organic molecules, precursors to life, in space, challenging previous assumptions about life's origins.

This raises questions about how and why life on Earth "turned left" in its amino acid preference. NASA launched the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu in 2016 to gain insights into the early ...

One of these lumps became the asteroid Bennu whose minerals, recently returned to Earth by the US robot space probe OSIRIS-REx, have now been found to contain rich levels of complex chemicals that are ...

Scientists have found the ingredients for life in the fragments of an asteroid (just not quite the right ones). Plus, researchers weigh up the pros and cons of DeepSeek-R1.

Ancient glaciers reshaped Earth’s surface and shifted ocean chemistry, fueling the rise of complex life, a new study found. Calved icebergs from the Twin Glaciers are seen in 2013 off Greenland ...

Lurking inside an asteroid: life’s ingredients Our solar system contains planets, dwarf planets, asteroids and comets — but only one world is known to harbor life.

Unlocking the origins of life starts with understanding how simple space molecules turned into complex building blocks. To do that, scientists need untouched samples—material that hasn’t been ...

In other words, the sample contains a wealth of material showing that critical ingredients for life as we know it exist on a space rock roughly the same age as Earth. The only thing missing, it ...