NASA’s Viking missions to Mars may have discovered evidence for life on the Red Planet after all, according to scientists who are seeking to correct what they believe to be a 50-year-old mistake that has led everybody to think that Mars is lifeless. Viking 1 and Viking 2 landed on Mars in 1976. On board
Life on Earth may exist thanks to an incredible stroke of luck — a chemical sweet spot that most planets miss during their formation but ours managed to hit. A new study shows that Earth formed under an unusually precise set of chemical conditions that allowed it to retain two elements essential for life as
Scientists have completed the first-ever full-scale, scientifically accurate replica of Deinosuchus schwimmeri, a prehistoric crocodile that once ruled North America’s waterways. Known as the “dinosaur killer,” this colossal reptile, which could grow up to 31 feet long, terrorized its environment during the Late Cretaceous period. The replica, now on display at the Tellus Science Museum
Prehistoric fossils from Kangaroo Island have been transformed into vibrant creatures of the deep for a series of artworks, which in turn have been made into a series of stamps. Dr Peter Trusler has used the latest research on the 512m-year-old fossils to make detailed, colourful illustrations, which Australia Post has released as a series
The upgraded Super Heavy booster slated to launch SpaceX’s next Starship flight has completed cryogenic proof testing, clearing a hurdle that resulted in the destruction of the company’s previous booster. SpaceX announced the milestone in a social media post Tuesday: “Cryoproof operations complete for the first time with a Super Heavy V3 booster. This multi-day
Every organism alive today traces its lineage back to a single shared ancestor that lived about four billion years ago. Scientists refer to this organism as the “last universal common ancestor,” and it represents the earliest form of life that can currently be examined using established evolutionary methods. Research on this ancient ancestor shows that
A fossil unearthed from central India has captured the attention of vertebrate paleontologists worldwide. Described by researchers as a dinosaur egg-within-an-egg, the specimen displays an internal structure never before documented in non-avian dinosaurs. The discovery, announced by scientists at the University of Delhi, signals a potential re-evaluation of assumptions about how some dinosaurs may have
A fossil unearthed from central India has captured the attention of vertebrate paleontologists worldwide. Described by researchers as a dinosaur egg-within-an-egg, the specimen displays an internal structure never before documented in non-avian dinosaurs. The discovery, announced by scientists at the University of Delhi, signals a potential re-evaluation of assumptions about how some dinosaurs may have
A recent study points to an exciting possibility: that Uranus’s moon Miranda, located in the far reaches of our solar system, may harbor a hidden sea beneath its icy crust, making it hospitable to extraterrestrial life. Discovering water on a moon is no easy task. It’s even harder when that moon is hundreds of millions
Scientists say they’ve found a simple way to protect young trees from hungry deer: make them smell like a predator. In forests in southeastern Germany, researchers found that spreading lynx and wolf urine and scat around young trees cut browsing damage by deer, with lynx scent having the biggest impact, according to a release