Scientists have discovered a simple and reliable test for signs of past or present life on other planets — “the holy grail of Astrobiology.”

In the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a seven-member team, funded by the John Templeton Foundation and led by Jim Cleaves and Robert Hazen of the Carnegie Institution for Science, reports that, with 90% accuracy, their artificial intelligence-based method distinguished modern and ancient biological samples from those of abiotic origin.

“This routine analytical method has the potential to revolutionize the search for extraterrestrial life and deepen our understanding of both the origin and chemistry of the earliest life on Earth,” says Dr. Hazen...

Called let-7, the microRNA governs formation of the cellular memory pool and is a gift from the dawn of animal life. A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has shown that a single, small strand of microRNA, or miRNA, known as let-7, governs the ability of T-cells to recognize and remember tumor cells. This cellular memory is the basis for how vaccines work. Boosting cellular memory to recognize tumors could help improve cancer therapies. The research, published recently in Nature Communications, suggests a new strategy for the next generation of cancer-fighting immunotherapies.

“Imagine that the human body is a fortress,” says Leonid Pobezinsky, associate professor of veterinary and animal sciences at UMass Amherst and the paper’s senior author, along with...

Thermometers can do a lot of things: Measure the temperature at the center of your perfectly braised chicken or tell you whether to keep your child home from school due to illness. But because of their size, traditional thermometers’ uses are still limited.

“How do you non-invasively measure a temperature...

Astronomers have found a striking link between the amount of dust surrounding a supermassive black hole and the strength of the radio emission produced in extremely bright galaxies. The findings are published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The team of international astronomers, led by Newcastle University and Durham University, UK, used new data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), which is conducting a five year survey of large scale structure in the universe that will include optical spectra for ~3 million quasars; extremely bright galaxies powered by supermassive black holes...