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origins of life

FG10H1 JUPITER: EUROPA, 1979. /nJupiter's moon, Europa. Photographed by Voyager 2, 1979.

Space

How excited should we be by signs of life spotted on alien worlds?

We keep spotting molecular “biosignatures” in the atmospheres of planets beyond Earth, but it isn't clear if any of them can provide definitive evidence that we’re not alone

Features

Hair seems to help shrimp move through water

Life

Hairy legs make you swim better – if you're a shrimp

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Space

Comets may bring ingredients for life most easily to clustered planets

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An illustration of the early surface of Earth with a volcano erupting in the background.

Life

How we will discover the mysterious origins of life once and for all

Features

A male lion and a cub

Life

Do animals know that sex leads to babies?

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Earth

Nearly all mammals will go extinct in 250 million years as Earth warms

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Steve Jones at the US Botanic Garden with a bloom (Devin Dotson/US Botanic Garden)

Life

The strange plant that just might be the worst smell on the planet

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Subatomic particles and atoms, conceptual illustration.

Physics

A brief history of the standard model, our theory of almost everything

Features

Juice launch 14/04/2023 ESA?s latest interplanetary mission, Juice, lifted off on an?Ariane 5 rocket?from?Europe?s Spaceport?in French 09:14 local time/14:14CEST on 14 April 2023 to begin its eight-year journey to Jupiter, where it will study in detail the gas giant planet?s three large ocean-bearing moons: Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Juice ? Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer ??is humankind?s next bold mission to the outer Solar System. This ambitious mission will?characterise Ganymede, Callisto and Europa with a powerful suite of remote sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments to discover more about these compelling destinations as potential habitats for past or present life. Juice will monitor Jupiter?s complex magnetic, radiation and plasma environment in depth and its interplay with the moons, studying the Jupiter system as an archetype for gas giant systems across the Universe. Following launch, Juice will embark on an eight-year journey to Jupiter, arriving in July 2031 with the aid of momentum and direction gained from four gravity-assist fly-bys of the Earth-Moon system, Venus and, twice, Earth. Flight VA260 is the final Ariane 5 flight to carry an ESA mission to space.

Space

How the JUICE mission will look for habitability on Jupiter's moons

Features

Underwater light, sun light shine under water with ripples on surface. Realistic sunlight under deep water with reflection, blue ocean or sea depth blue background; Shutterstock ID 1559777738; purchase_order: -; job: -; client: -; other: -

Life

The delightfully bizarre creatures that live near deep-sea vents

Animals found around hydrothermal vents – from snails covered in metal plates to hairy crabs – have unusual adaptations to survive with no sunlight and extreme pressure

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Life

Photos capture mission to rescue seagrass meadows in the the Baltic

Regulars

Space

Aliens on low-oxygen worlds may never discover fire

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Life

Cuvier's beaked whale seen grieving dead calf for first time

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Life

Nearly a third of coastal wolves in Alaska are eating sea otters

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