Landing on Mars once felt like a distant dream. Now, space agencies have sent rovers and landers to explore the Red Planet ...

The grey patches are likely lichen, a combination of a fungus and an algae. It is harmless to you and the tree. It is common ...

Have you ever noticed the strange, colorful splotches clinging to rocks, tree bark, or even old fences after a rainy day?

The chemical basis of the lichen’s resistance lies in its UV-opaque cortex, a structural layer enriched with phenolic lichen ...

Synthetic lichens could transform Martian dust into self-growing habitats for future Mars bases and 3D printed buildings.

A Texas A&M research team has developed synthetic lichens that could be the answer to self-growing structures on Mars.

Can desert lichen survive extreme UV radiation? Study shows it might hold clues to how life could exist on distant, high-radiation planets.

A walk in the desert and a curious discovery could have revealed that the secrets of alien life grow in the harshest ...

The question of whether Earth is alone in harboring life has captivated humanity for millennia. In recent years, scientists have turned to Earth-like ...

Trillions of bacteria, fungi, viruses and single-celled organisms travel the globe high in the atmosphere. Scientists are finding that they play a role in the weather and our health.

Pengel calls this the ‘lichen sandwich’: you have the fungus, the algae, and then, more fungus. “When the fungus gets wet, it tends to become transparent.

The fungus protects the algae, and provides the lichen's structure. Lichen can also act as a sort of air conditioner for the forest: it stores and releases moisture, making the air wet, dry, warm ...