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    Mars tagged posts

    Earth and Mars: Built from different cosmic recipes

    October 2, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Image of Mars
    “You might have expected that two planets formed side by side in the same solar system would share a more similar formation history,” says Professor Anders Johansen, who co-led a new study about the origin of Earth and Mars. Photo: Canva

    Four and a half billion years ago, Earth and Mars were born in the rotating cloud of gas and dust that would eventually become our solar system. Yet exactly how the planets formed remains one of the most disputed questions in planetary science.

    Now, researchers at the University of Copenhagen are adding new evidence to the debate. Using a novel approach, they have reconstructed the earliest stages of the planets’ formation by analyzing their chemical composition.

    And the results surprised them.

    “The most surprising result was that Earth and Ma...

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    The Red Planet has a purple side

    September 23, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Mars is known for its reddish colour palette, a result of ancient iron oxides. But these striking pinks and purples are much different from the rest of the red planet. This orbital image shows Thyles Rupes, its cliff face, and a nearby glacier, where the atypical colours come from a mix of dust and frost. The image is from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA's Mars Express orbiter. Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence
    Mars is known for its reddish colour palette, a result of ancient iron oxides. But these striking pinks and purples are much different from the rest of the red planet. This orbital image shows Thyles Rupes, its cliff face, and a nearby glacier, where the atypical colours come from a mix of dust and frost. The image is from the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on the ESA’s Mars Express orbiter. Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin. Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO or ESA Standard Licence

    Oxidized iron dominates the Martian color palette. The dusty reds, ochers, browns and tans give the planet its nickname: the Red Planet. But new images of Mars’ south polar region show something different...

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    This tiny organism refused to die under Mars-like illusion

    February 11, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Yeast Survives Mars-Like Conditions
    Scientists exposed yeast cells to extreme conditions resembling Mars — violent shock waves from meteorite impacts and toxic perchlorate salts found in Martian soil — and the cells survived. Credit: Shutterstock

    Baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) is best known for its role in baking, brewing, and modern biotechnology. Yet this everyday microorganism may also offer insight into a far bigger question: how life might endure the extreme conditions found beyond Earth.

    Researchers from the Department of Biochemistry (BC) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), working with collaborators at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, have discovered that yeast can survive environmental stresses similar to those on Mars...

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    Tiny Mars’s big impact on Earth’s climate: How the red planet’s pull shapes ice ages

    January 13, 2026, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    At half the size of Earth and one-tenth its mass, Mars is a featherweight as far as planets go. Yet new research reveals the extent to which Mars is quietly tugging on Earth’s orbit and shaping the cycles that drive long-term climate patterns here, including ice ages.

    The study is published in the journal Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

    Stephen Kane, a professor of planetary astrophysics at UC Riverside, began this project with doubts about recent studies tying Earth’s ancient climate patterns to gravitational nudges from Mars. These studies suggest that sediment layers on the ocean floor reflect climate cycles influenced by the red planet despite its distance from Earth and small size.

    “I knew Mars had some effect on Earth, but I assumed it was tiny,...

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