“Swiss army knife” of life and energy buffet found on Saturnian moon
The most promising places to look for life beyond Earth might not be Mars but icy moons orbiting gas giants. Saturn’s moon Enceladus has just climbed the list, as NASA data reveals it’s home to a molecule thought to be key to the origin of life, and suggests there’s more chemical energy for life to chow down on than we thought.Enceladus might not seem too inviting – it looks like a big snowball. But beneath that icy shell is a deep global ocean that’s surprisingly cosy for life thanks to hydrothermal vents and, it turns…