In earth and environmental sciences, radioactive isotopes, atom variants that decay over time, play a major role in age determination. A radioactive isotope of the inert gas argon 39, for example, is ...

Mars may have once possessed an atmosphere about as thick as Earth’s, but then lost most of it to space due to solar wind and ultraviolet rays, a new study found. The new finding could shed light on ...

After circling the Red Planet for more than a full Martian year, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft has discovered the culprit behind much of Mars’ missing air: a young, rambunctious sun. The findings, published ...

Some pieces of rock that fell to Earth from space are indeed from Mars, new measurements reveal. Readings collected by NASA's Mars rover Curiosity have pinned down the exact ratio of two forms of the ...

WASHINGTON, DC—Earth's most eminent emissary to Mars has just proven that those rare Martian visitors that sometimes drop in on Earth — a.k.a. Martian meteorites — really are from the Red Planet. A ...

Mars just gave up one of its oldest secrets — and it took a decade, a spacecraft, and a cosmic cannonball to catch it in the act. For the first time, NASA’s MAVEN mission has directly observed a ...

Examination of the martian atmosphere by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover confirms that some meteorites that have dropped to Earth really are from the Red Planet. A key new measurement of the inert gas ...

The latest data from NASA's Mars Curiosity rover will allow researchers to more accurately identify the origins of meteorites when they fall to Earth. Scientists already refer to many meteorites as ...

Argon was forged in the doomed star that became the Crab Nebula. (Courtesy: NASA, ESA, J Hester and A Loll (Arizona State University)) An international team of astronomers has accidentally spotted the ...

Astronomers using Europe’s Herschel Space Observatory have made the first discovery in space of a molecule including a noble gas. The molecule, argon hydride, was seen in the Crab Nebula, the remains ...

Earth's most eminent emissary to Mars has just proven that those rare Martian visitors that sometimes drop in on Earth -- a.k.a. Martian meteorites -- really are from the Red Planet. A key new ...