Our Solar System is really good at sharing: meteoroids are constantly coming in through Earth’s atmosphere and landing on the surface as meteorites, pieces of other worlds. PSI Senior Scientist Larry Lebofsky is just as ... Read More

A study reconstructs the chemical composition of key molecules in stars by analyzing their infrared fingerprints. A PhD student has recreated a small portion of the Universe inside a laboratory setup, producing synthetic cosmic dust and offering new insight into how the chemical ingredients for life may have formed long before Earth existed. Linda Losurdo, [...]

Space-based experiments show fungi can efficiently extract valuable metals from meteorites in microgravity, advancing prospects for asteroid biomining and sustainable resource use. As humans look toward deep-space travel, there is one group of travelers that will inevitably come along: microbes. They are impossible to separate from us, living on our skin, inside our bodies, and [...]

Scientists in Brazil have uncovered evidence of a previously unknown impact event recorded in hundreds of glassy fragments scattered across the country. Scientists have confirmed the first known field of tektites ever discovered in Brazil. Tektites are pieces of natural glass created when an extraterrestrial object strikes Earth with tremendous force, melting surface rock and [...]

A new scientific investigation suggests that known non-biological processes may not be enough to explain the amount of organic material discovered in a Martian rock sample collected by NASA’s Curiosity rover. Organic compounds are molecules built around carbon atoms. On Earth, carbon-based chemistry forms the foundation of life, although some organic molecules can also arise [...]