Life

Tardigrades are well-known for being one of the hardiest animals on the planet, but even they have their limits. New research has shown that they could be more susceptible to climate change than previously thought.

The line between robots and living organisms is beginning to blur. Researchers at the University of Vermont and Tufts University have now essentially created new creatures from frog cells, complete with programmable behaviors.

Phosphorous is one of the six key chemical ingredients of life, yet its scarcity raises the question of how early Earth supplied this essential element. A new study has now provided a possible explanation.

Enceladus’ unique "tiger stripe" fissures have long been something of a mystery. Why do these distinctive formations only exist at Enceladus’ south pole? Why they are so evenly spaced, and why they haven’t simply closed up or frozen over?

Two new studies are offering insights into the long-term effects of intermittent fasting on human health. The research suggests fasting for just one day a month, over many years, can lengthen lifespan and enhance heart health – but there are caveats.

The latest ingredients of life to be discovered off-world are certain bio-essential sugars, which have now been found in meteorites. This could lend weight to the idea that meteorite impacts are responsible for the origin of life on Earth.

A new Japanese study simulated interstellar clouds of dust and gas, and managed to produce some of the building blocks of DNA.

Scientists have found some of the earliest direct evidence of life, in the form of organic remains in 3.5-billion-year-old stromatolites in Australia.

A new study argues that the death of a huge asteroid caused an ice age that dramatically altered the evolution of life on Earth.

Just how common are potentially habitable Earth-like planets? Researchers on a new study claim to have come up with the most accurate estimate yet – and they’re more common than you might think.

While we have some idea about what kinds of signs of life to look for on other planets, many of these can also be created under natural processes. Now NASA is about to launch a new mission that can help root out these false positives by studying the interactions between stars and their planets.

Exactly how life sprung out of non-living matter is one of biology’s biggest mysteries. In new research, scientists cooked up a “primordial soup” and found that some of the crucial building blocks of life spontaneously stacked themselves in a surprisingly efficient way.