MARS

For nearly a century, scientists have been puzzling over fossils from a strange and robust-looking distant relative of early humans: Paranthropus robustus. It walked upright, and was built for heavy chewing with relatively massive jaws, and...
A recent study by Dr. Esther Jacobson-Tepfer, published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal, explores the transformation of elk rock art in the Mongolian Altai. Her research sheds light on the possible factors that influenced these changes,...

These mysterious dark ‘streaks’ on Mars aren’t what scientists initially believed

Mysterious dark streaks first observed on Mars in the 1970s are not what many believed they were. Scientists now say the curious features that stretch...

Taking a realistic look at terraforming Mars

A team of researchers with a variety of backgrounds and affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. has taken a realistic approach to looking...

NASA and ESA want to bring Martian rocks to Earth. Here’s what will happen to the samples once they get here

A mission will deliver rock and soil from Mars to laboratories on Earth in the 2030s. Mars Sample Return (MSR) is led by NASA...

Here’s how we could quickly raise temperatures on Mars

Multiple plans exist to explore Mars in the coming decades using robotic and crewed missions. The ultimate goal of these missions is to determine...

A step towards life on Mars? Lichens survive Martian simulation in new study

For the first time, researchers have demonstrated that certain lichen species can survive Mars-like conditions, including exposure to ionizing radiation, while maintaining a metabolically...

Shocking spherules on Mars

Last week, the Perseverance Science Team were astonished by a strange rock comprised of hundreds of millimeter-sized spheres… and the team are now working...

Organic molecules of unprecedented size discovered on Mars

The longest organic molecules identified to date on Mars have recently been detected by scientists from the CNRS, together with their colleagues from France,...

Weighing in on a Mars water debate: Analysis challenges previous findings

More than 3 billion years ago, Mars intermittently had liquid water on its surface. After the planet lost much of its atmosphere, however, surface...

Seismic clues from Marsquakes suggest liquid water and life potential beneath the surface

Are subterranean lifeforms viable on Mars? A new interpretation of Martian seismic data by scientists Ikuo Katayama of Hiroshima University and Yuya Akamatsu of...

The dynamic battle between Mars’s atmosphere and solar wind

Qi Zhang, a doctoral student at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics and Umeå University, explores in her doctoral thesis the interaction between Mars...

Can surface fractures on Earth, Mars, and Europa predict habitability on other planets?

When a mudflat crumbles on Earth, or an ice sheet splinters on one of Jupiter's moons (Europa), or an ancient lakebed breaks on Mars,...

Unburied treasure: Rover researchers find unexpected minerals on Mars that hint at possibility of ancient life

Sometimes scientists must dig and work and sweat to make scientific discoveries. And sometimes a robot rolls over a rock that turns out to...

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