Where would carbon-based life be without carbon? There are 118 known chemical elements, but carbon is the fourth most abundant and perhaps the most important to human life. Everywhere you look, ...

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American Robert Hazen is one of five expert speakers ...

When scientists search for extraterrestrial life, they invariably focus on the sixth element on the periodic table: Carbon. "I don't think even most humans have much self-awareness, let alone bacteria ...

Everything we can see and touch, and quite a lot that we can’t as well, is made of tiny particles called atoms. Some substances, like particles of this iron, contain only one kind of atom. Iron is an ...

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Using NASA’s Spitzer Telescope, an international research team has found evidence that some stars in the center of the Milky Way galaxy have both carbon and oxygen in the dust that ...

After two decades of debate, scientists are getting closer to figuring out exactly what the sun — and thus the whole universe — is made of. The sun is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. There are ...

Where would carbon-based life be without carbon? There are 118 known chemical elements, but carbon is the fourth most abundant and perhaps the most important to human life. Everywhere you look, ...