On 18 February next year, a NASA spacecraft will plummet through the Martian atmosphere, fire its retro-rockets to break its fall and then lower a six-wheeled rover named Perseverance to the surface.

How life emerged on Earth is among the most significant mysteries in science. Though it remains an open question in biology, scientists have some pretty promising theories as to how a chemical soup ...

AI is helping chemists unpick the mysteries around the origins of life and detect signs of it on other worlds. The Biggest Questions is a mini-series that explores how technology is helping probe some ...

The first living organisms may have relied on nickel and sulphur to obtain energy and sustain themselves. That is the conclusion of a study that shows how nickel sulphide can transform simple ...