Plants In Space

Research on plant growth in space has shown that gravity plays less of a role in plant development than previously thought.

That's good news for human space exploration and colonization.

Red Arcs On Tethys

The Cassini spacecraft exploring the Saturn system has imaged odd red arcs on the surface of the moon Tethys.

No one knows yet what the arcs are.

Old Galaxy

Astronomers have found the oldest galaxy yet at 13.2 billion years old, which puts it only 600 million years after the Big Bang.

A galaxy so early wasn't necessarily expected, and needs to be fit into cosmological theory.

Three Years On Mars

NASA's Curiosity rover has now been on Mars for three Earth years.  In that time. it has established that fresh water once flowed on Mars, strengthened the case that life could have existed on Mars, and reached its target destination, Mount Sharp.

Curiosity is now climbing the foothills of that mountain, reading the history of that area in rock layers.

False Positives

Now that we can find exoplanets and will soon be able to study some of their atmospheres in search of biosignatures, or signs of life, scientists are trying to come up will all possible false positive indicators of life.

They live in fear of proclaiming life exists elsewhere in the universe only to have to take it back.

Ceres

NASA's Dawn spacecraft has found a haze over the curious bright spots on Ceres, suggesting they are ice deposits that are sublimating into space.

Ceres also likely has a substantial amount of water subsurface, some of which may be liquid.  Some researchers think Ceres might be a better bet for supporting life than the moons of the gas giants.

Quickly To The Radio Telescopes

The SETI Institute is already targeting Kepler 452b-- the recently confirmed exoplanet that's the closest thing to Earth yet discovered-- for possible radio signals from alien civilizations.

No signals have yet been found.