Earth life support systems are flashing red, warns 2026 Planetary Health Check
Human activities continue eroding the planet’s stability, resilience and life-support functions, the third edition of the Planetary Health Check released in September warns. The “scary” part of the 2026 report, says lead co-author Levke Caesar, is that the trends are largely going in the wrong direction. “We still have seven out of the nine planetary […]
In July 2025, comet 3I/ATLAS made its rare visit from beyond our solar system, becoming one of the world's most prominent science subjects. Discovered only the third interstellar object, the comet was a celestial celebrity for about four months. Astronomers, studying data collected by numerous telescopes and spacecraft, found that 3I/ATLAS might hold valuable clues about extraterrestrial life.
The ancient object is believed to be a fragment of a planetesimal, a building block of a planet, from a distant system. This means studying its composition could shed light on the prevalence of life's essential building blocks around distant stars. Comets like 3I/ATLAS play a crucial role in seeding planets with carbon-containing chemicals, leading to the formation of organic compounds that form the basis for life's biomolecules.
Observations by space- and ground-based telescopes revealed that 3I/ATLAS contains vast amounts of organic molecules, including hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, methanol, and methane. While these chemicals are present in abundance, they do not necessarily indicate the existence of life. However, the discovery of such compounds in a foreign planetary system offers valuable insights into the potential for life elsewhere in our galaxy.
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