In 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover found surprising levels of Nickel in the Martian bedrock of an ancient river channel, called Neretva Vallis, which flowed into the Jezero crater. A new study, published in Nature Communications, has taken a closer look at the data collected from the region and researchers are seeing what could be remnants of ancient Martian life.

Nickel as a biosignature
Although nickel is not typically thought of as a major component of human life, it is important in many microbial metabolism functions...

A new study from the University of Chicago taps an ingredient most often used in the lithium-ion batteries that power our devices to open new avenues in biomedical technology. Lithium plays vital roles in the body, but taking it orally can have unwanted side effects—so a pair of UChicago chemistry labs teamed up to find a way to deliver lithium only to the exact places where it’s needed.

Their study, published in Nature Materials, could be the foundation for future biomedical technologies to treat p...

A Southwest Research Institute-led study found that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, revealing a more complex magnetic engine powering the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection converts magnetic energy into explosive kinetic energy, powering solar events and causing space weather that impacts Earth...

Over one billion people worldwide are over 60, and the population is projected to more than double by 2050. But as more people live into their 60s, 70s, and 80s, health care systems across the globe may face new challenges as they attempt to manage associated increases in age-related disease.

Metabolic biologist Andreas Stahl and preeminent longevity researcher Irina Conboy argue that the graying of the global population underscores the need to understand aging as a biological process, and how it might be slowed or reversed...