Science

NASA's Perseverance Rover might have made serious headway in its mission to find signs of ancient life on the planet. It's stumbled upon a rock with colorful spots on it, which may have been left behind by microbial life billions of years ago.

One of the problems with microplastics lies in the fact that the plastic particles can be so small, we don't even know they're present in water in the first place. A new type of engineered bacteria could help, by causing the particles to glow green.

We don't fully understand why some people are more attractive to mosquitoes – it's a complicated web of physiological and bacterial factors, geography and species. But a new study suggests that some insects like to home in on the life of the party.

How do you control a nuclear space propulsion system? Very carefully. To help with this, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has built a simulated nuclear reactor test bed to develop the engines that could send astronauts to Mars and beyond.

An inexpensive catalyst that selectively breaks down the most common single-use plastics in recycling processes negates the need for tedious and expensive sorting. This could give recycling the nudge it need to keep pace with plastic production.

The extraordinary evolution of humans is often attributed to two defining traits: large brains and highly dexterous hands. A new study suggests the evolution of these two traits are interconnected across the entire primate lineage, from lemurs to humans.

In the largest study of its kind, scientists have documented the seismic shift in animal size over the last 1,000 years, with domesticated species becoming larger as wildlife gets smaller. It underlines the impact of one species in particular – us.

CPR is a technique that has saved countless lives since the modern version was developed in the 1960s. However, it turns out it doesn't work very well in zero gravity, so a team of European cardiologists has been testing alternatives for astronauts.

Minerals like titanium dioxide are effective sunscreen ingredients, but they can harm coral reefs if used in their non-nanoparticle form. An experimental new sunscreen forgoes the minerals altogether, replacing them with "just-as-effective" pollen.

A cool new study with chilly implications from a team led by the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has shown for the first time that ice can generate electricity in two surprising ways.