KNKiona N. Smith

1. Article · Sep 17, 2026 · Kiona N. Smith

   Mars settlers may live in houses made of yeast and gelatin (opens the original)

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   Jello molds aren't just for dinner parties — when humans start building habitats on Mars, the structures could be made partly of gelatin and yeast. A team of engineers devised a recipe for concrete that uses yeast and gelatin to bind together sand into a light, porous material. Theoretically, this should work with Mars material, or regolith, as well. In the lab, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology environmental engineer Ning Liu and colleagues already built tiny versions of future Mar

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2. Article · Jul 21, 2026 · Kiona N. Smith

   Alien life likely can't survive on exoplanets smaller than Mars, scientists say (opens the original)

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   A rocky planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star may look like a perfect place for life to thrive — but not if it's too small to hold onto its atmosphere. So, we may wonder: How much smaller Earth could be and still have its delightfully breathable atmosphere? How small could an exoplanet be to sustain life as we know it? With these questions in mind, University of California Riverside planetary scientist Michelle Hill and her colleagues recently simulated what happens to the atm

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