For decades, astronomers have identified collisions between two neutron stars through bursts of gamma rays that can disappear in less than two seconds. But some of these violent encounters may also reveal themselves through X-ray flashes lasting several minutes. A new study published in Science Bulletin provides evidence for this connection, suggesting that merging neutron stars could be hiding among cosmic flashes whose origins have remained uncertain.

Is there life elsewhere, or is Earth unique in the universe? This is one of humanity’s great unanswered questions. One way to approach this mystery is to investigate how life began here on Earth. Our research explores the conditions in which a mixture of molecules somehow transformed from chemistry into biology.

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.

Although Mars may have once resembled Earth, the rocky red planet now appears far from hospitable. Still, certain details—such as ice-bound water—pique researchers’ curiosity. As on Earth, ice on Mars contains valuable records of past climate that could reveal whether the planet hosts, or has ever hosted, life.