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You're looking at a once-in-a-lifetime scientific discovery. A team of experts announced today that these fragments of space rock, discovered last month near Foumzgit, Morocco, are in fact meteorites from Mars. More »
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In the 1980s, Daniel Schechtman theorized the existence of quasicrystals, bizarre materials between crystals and glasses that could never exist except in the laboratory. But now his impossible crystals have turned up in a Russian mountain. More »
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Of course, much of the color in these images isn't natural, but instead the result of analysis by a polarizing microscope. But thanks to such analysis we know exactly where these space rocks came from: the solar system's weirdest asteroid. More »
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We've often found trace evidence of DNA on meteorites, but it wasn't clear whether these DNA pieces originated in space, or were accidental byproducts of contamination by scientists. Now we have our best evidence yet that they actually come from space. More »
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Yes, it's proof of intelligence life on Mars - the only problem is that it's just some of our old crap. Specifically, it's the heat shield jettisoned by the Opportunity rover when it landed on Mars a few years back. More »
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Here's a bizarre milestone. On June 28, 1911, a meteorite fell over the outskirts of Alexandria, Egypt. The meteorite broke into several smaller rocks, one of which may have reduced a dog to a burnt smear. More »
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The most recently discovered mineral is krotite, which was recently discovered in a meteorite fragment. Krotite has never been seen in nature before now, and yet its origins reach right back to the birth of the solar system. More »
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Most of the craters created by meteorite and asteroid impacts are round, nothing like this strangely elongated, oval-shaped crater recently discovered on Mars. This crater just might be the trendiest meteorite landing spot on all of Mars. More »
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Meteorites killed the dinosaurs and have nearly wiped out humanity in multiple Hollywood blockbusters, but have these deadly space rocks actually gotten a bad rap? One geologist argues we should actually be thankful for all meteorites have done for us. More »
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The Orgueil meteorite crashed into France 150 years ago. It's over 4.5 billion years old...and it might carry a piece of an ancient supernova that was instrumental to the solar system's birth. More »
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An ancient meteorite reveals the solar system is 4.5682 billion years old, 1.9 million years older than we thought. The difference seems insignificant, but it could mean our solar system was actually born in the blast furnace of a supernova. More »
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Thirteen years ago, a team of researchers studying the Allan Hills meteorite found evidence that the rock might contain fossils of Martian bacteria. Now, fresh evidence makes a stronger case that Mars once contained life very similar to Earth bacteria. More »
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Two weeks ago, NASA's Opportunity Rover discovered the largest meteorite yet observed on Mars. Sure, any space debris can be an exciting discovery, but the rock's size has its own cool implications: Mars's atmosphere used to be a lot thicker. More »
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After a 10-ton meteor exploded in a spectacular fireball over the Canadian province Saskatchewan two weeks ago, the hunt was on to find fragments of the space rock. Researchers and local enthusiasts descended on the area around Marsden, Sask, and have found dozens of fragments like the one pictured here - discovered on an icy lake by Calgary graduate student Ellen Milley. Already, the researchers have learned a lot from the recovered meteorite bits. More »
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An asteroid that's 45 meters across is headed towards Earth - its impact will unleash 3-5 megatons of energy. Unfortunately the world's governments are so badly-prepared that nobody responds to the danger until it's too late. Now a group called the Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation is working with the United Nations to make sure this never comes to pass, and astronaut Rusty Schweickart has just published an interesting article about the work he's doing with the group. More »
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Thursday night, a meteorite fell in Western Canada, burning up as hit the Earth’s atmosphere and creating a brilliant flash over Alberta and Saskatchewan. Witnesses got to experience the brightest fireball the country has seen in over a decade. Fortunately for us non-Canadians, several video cameras captured the meteorite’s luminous fall. More »
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How life got started on Earth is still a big problem for scientists. The story goes something like this: "Well, there was this primordial soup of amino acids and stuff, then maybe there was some lightning, or something, and then ::mumble, mumble:: and then we had life." Awkward! But that awkwardness may be over: Research on the Murchison meteor, which landed in Australia in 1969, has found that the rock carried the building blocks of DNA on board. The finding puts panspermia firmly in the spotlight as a possible origin for life on Earth, and makes a lot more sense than that old tale of thunderstorms and arm-waving. More »
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