Floating above your head are about 300 million exoplanets – planets outside our solar system – that could be habitable. But as much as it’s easy to think all they need is oxygen and water for life to ...

Tiny life forms tucked into debris from an asteroid hit could catapult to other planets—including Earth—and survive, a new Johns Hopkins University study finds. The work demonstrates that a certain ...

For decades, the search for extraterrestrial life has revolved around a simple rule: follow the water. If a distant planet has liquid water, and perhaps oxygen, it is flagged as potentially habitable.

For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are essential. Phosphorus is vital for the formation of DNA and RNA, which store ...

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 ...