"The fact that terrestrial microbes are the Earth's best colonizers means we can never completely discount terrestrial ...

A recent discovery made by scientists working with a sample of rock from outer space highlights one of the huge challenges ...

Scientists have found microorganisms crawling over a sample retrieved from the 200 million-mile-distant asteroid Ryugu. But ...

Last year, a study reported the discovery of organic molecules on asteroid Ryugu, sparking discussions about the origins of life and the possibility of panspermia — the idea that life could be seeded ...

HOPES of finding traces of alien life in the universe have been scuppered yet again. And this time on asteroid Ryugu, a space ...

Samples taken from the space-returned piece of asteroid Ryugu were collected and prepared under strict anti-contamination ...

Japan launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft on a mission to fetch a sample from an asteroid. The asteroid is named 162173 Ryugu, but it's also known as 1999 JU3. Hayabusa2 lifted off from the Tanegashima ...

A Ryugu asteroid sample has been found contaminated by terrestrial microbes, raising questions about planetary protection.

Panspermia is the hypothesis that life can survive the transfer between planetary bodies as a secondary path for life to get ...

The salt crystals, consisting of rock salt, sodium carbonate, and sodium sulfate, are crucial for understanding the evolution ...

A chunk of rock collected from the asteroid Ryugu contains bacteria—but, unfortunately, it's not evidence of alien life.

Chinese scientists have built a cat-inspired robot designed to adjust its posture and stick its landing even in low-gravity ...