Life

Scientists have created new artificial microbes by combining two very different organisms into one functioning entity. The hybrid of a yeast and a bacterium adds evidence to a long-standing hypothesis on how advanced life may have evolved.

Evidence is mounting that the key building blocks of life may have been delivered to our home planet from space. Scientists have now identified in meteorites the last two DNA nucleobases that hadn’t yet been found in extraterrestrial samples.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created an RNA molecule that can not just replicate, but “evolve” into a diverse range of more complex molecules. This find could plug a major gap in the puzzle of how life on Earth began.

NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected high amounts of an unexpected form of carbon on Mars. That might not sound too exciting, but the kicker is that here on Earth, this chemical signature is usually associated with life.

A mystery that has puzzled scientists for over 25 years may have been solved as a new study led by the Carnegie Institution for Science suggests that signs of ancient life in a famous Martian meteorite may be due to geochemical processes.

Is there microbial life floating around in the clouds of Venus? Scientists have long pondered this question and soon we may get some answers, starting with a cloud-skimming mission in 2023 to search for signs of life.

Jezero crater on Mars was chosen as the landing site for the Perseverance rover because satellite images suggested it was once an ancient lake. More direct evidence has now been found, as photos snapped by the rover reveal signs of flash flooding.

How life first emerged from non-living matter is one of the most enduring mysteries of science. In a new study, scientists have created self-replicating protocells in the lab, which could represent the “missing link” between chemistry and biology.

In the hunt for extraterrestrial life, most of our attention has been focused on Earth-like worlds. But now, astronomers have defined a new class of exoplanet called “Hycean” worlds that could be a promising place to find signs of life.

NASA is planning to send a rotorcraft to Saturn's moon Titan, one of the most intriguing places in the solar system. Now the science goals and objectives for the Dragonfly mission have been outlined, with the search for life high on the list.

Controversial physicist Avi Loeb is on the hunt for aliens again. His new Galileo Project aims to track unexplained oddities in the sky, study interstellar objects, and even examine the "possibility" of alien satellites watching us from orbit.

Something is making methane on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. A new study has found that methane levels detected from the icy moon are far higher than can be explained by known geochemical processes – but they are consistent with microbes.