Extraterrestrial Life

A controversial arsenic microbe study unveiled 15 years ago has been retracted. The study’s authors are crying foul

Observations of a baby star may show the earliest stages of planet formation that astronomers have ever seen

A new global overview of Mars suggests dust, rather than water, is the source of mysterious streaks there

The future is bright—too bright—for life as we know it once the sun transforms into a red giant star

Launching in 2028, China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission could bring Red Planet rocks back to Earth as early as 2031—years ahead of competing U.S.-European efforts

NASA’s astrobiology ambitions are at risk of collapsing under the White House’s proposed budget. But your voice can make a difference

After billions of dollars in spending and decades of planning, NASA may be forced to abandon precious samples of air, rock and soil on the Martian surface. Experts are furious

Dimethyl sulfide is in the news after NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may have detected relatively high levels of it in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18 b

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope detected an intriguing compound in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18 b, but scientists are divided about what the chemical means

Overall, “space miso” tastes just like regular miso—but slight differences in its microbial profile suggest that extraterrestrial conditions affect how microbes grow and flourish

Studying how extraterrestrials might communicate could help prepare for first contact and also hint at the point of language itself

Have you seen something inexplicable in the sky? Jon Kosloski, director of the U.S. Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, wants to hear from you