The wonders of life on Earth are endless, but all that may never have come to pass were it not for the planet having the perfect amount of oxygen at birth.

For life to develop on a planet, certain chemical elements are needed in sufficient quantities. Phosphorus and nitrogen are ...

The new plot twist is that in order to keep enough nitrogen and phosphorus near its surface, a planet has to start out with ...

Life on Earth may exist thanks to an incredible stroke of luck — a chemical sweet spot that most planets miss during their ...

Earth’s habitability may trace back to a precise chemical balance during its formation, one that kept life-critical elements from disappearing into the core or drifting into space.

New research from ETH Zurich challenges the long-held “follow the water” rule in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Some exoplanets, like the one shown in this illustration, may have atmospheres that could make them potentially suitable for life.

Most pieces in this series of primers have stayed within the realm of the biological, examining life at the levels of the species, the individual, the organ and the cell. But the first dealt with a ...

With basic science and imagination, we can hypothesize what life might develop on other planets James Trefil and Michael Summers You are in a long, dark tunnel walled with solid ice. The only light ...