Earth plants could thrive under the light of an alien sun, according to a recent experiment. A team of astrobiologists planted garden cress seeds and cultured dishes of photosynthetic bacteria under ...

Astrobiologists in Germany are developing a new testing device that could help tease dormant alien microbes into revealing themselves — and its key ingredient is a common amino acid that’s found in ...

Finding bacteria in extreme environments, like at thermal ocean vents or in the sulfur pools at Yellowstone, isn't all that novel. In 1991, remote-control robots brought out samples of pitch-black ...

The search for life beyond Earth requires expanding the very definition of what life can be. Some exoplanets, especially those orbiting cooler red dwarfs, might host purple plant life rather than the ...