Life

A new study projects the COVID-19 pandemic to generate the largest single-year decline in US life expectancy in at least 40 years. The declines are especially prominent in minority communities, and are expected to continue over the coming years.

New research involving the simulation of 100,000 random worlds suggests that chance played a major role in allowing Earth to maintain a habitable environment for the three to four billion years needed for the evolution of complex life.

Phosphorus has been detected on a comet, thus completing the list of life-essential elements found on these cosmic snowballs. The discovery made in data from the Rosetta probe strengthens the idea that life’s ingredients were delivered to Earth by comets.

Jupiter’s moon Europa is a fascinating world, with a global subsurface ocean encased in an icy shell and plumes of water that vent into space. A new study has simulated how these plumes might originate, revealing a surprisingly dynamic ice ball.

A “weird” molecule called cyclopropenylidene has been detected in Titan's atmosphere. The simple molecule has never been seen in an atmosphere before, and it could give rise to more complex compounds and contribute to the conditions needed for life.

A new study has identified 1,004 stars from which aliens could detect signs of life in Earth’s atmosphere by watching as our planet passes across the disk of the Sun. The study could help provide targets for groups searching for alien civilizations.

Venus may owe its extreme atmosphere to an ancient run-in with the gas giant Jupiter, which could have fundamentally altered the planet’s orbit, and led to the loss of massive amounts of its water reserves.

While Mars may be the most likely place we might find life beyond Earth, it's not alone. High in the atmosphere of Venus, astronomers have made the startling discovery of a gas called phosphine – a strong contender for a sign of microbial life.

A new experiment placing bacteria on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS) has found that micro-organisms can survive in space for years, or even decades. The study lends weight to the idea that life could travel between planets.

A few years ago researchers discovered bacteria in Antarctica that could survive on nothing but air. Now the team has found evidence of this handy ability in other cold desert locations. The finding could have implications for life beyond Earth.

Phosphorus is a key ingredient for life as we know it, but it’s strangely uncommon in the cosmos. Now astronomers have discovered a new type of star that’s very rich in phosphorus, which could imply that alien life is more common than we thought.

In what sounds like the opening of a sci-fi movie, scientists have revived microorganisms that have laid dormant for 100 million years. These microbes were found deep beneath the seafloor, where they’ve been slumbering since the age of dinosaurs.