Life on Mars

Newly released images of Mars reveal a "smiley" salt deposit on the Red Planet's surface. A related study suggests that similar deposits, which were left behind from ancient lakes, may be a good place to look for signs of former life on Mars.

Scientists examining data from NASA's InSight Lander have revealed the likely presence of an underground reservoir containing enough liquid to cover the planet with a mile of water.

Researchers have found microbes thriving 13 feet beneath the scorched surface of Chile's Atacama Desert, marking the deepest discovery of microbial life in the region to date.

The discovery of an ancient lake bed beneath the Perseverance rover's location on Mars could mean the robotic scout has already scraped up microbial fossils. But we won't know for sure until we fetch the sample.

Researchers have discovered a jaw-dropping ecosystem of crystal-clear lagoons and salt plains in Argentina's Puna de Atacama desert that could offer a window onto early life on Earth and Mars.

The new machine-learning algorithm can distinguish between biological and nonbiological samples with 90% accuracy. Exactly how is a mystery.

NASA's Perseverance rover has found an intriguing menagerie of organic molecules in a Martian crater, but their source remains unclear.

A new study into the Tissint meteorite, which crash-landed in Morocco in 2011, revealed a wide array of organic compounds hidden in the rare space rock.

New research suggests that signs of ancient Martian life could be out there – or rather, hidden just beneath the Martian surface, safe from harmful radiation.

The finding comes from a modeling study that assumes ancient Martian life was similar to that on Earth during the same time period.