Five years ago, Covid-19 drastically changed lives all over the world. The pandemic also presented unique challenges for Las Vegas. We discuss how Nevadans continue to be impacted in a special collaboration with KNPR’s State of Nevada. We then meet Libby Hausrath, a UNLV professor and lead researcher on a Mars project. She explains what samples being collected now may tell us about the Red Planet.

Could life exist on Mars? That's what a professor at UNLV is looking to find out using samples from the red planet.

Mars has fascinated humanity since Galileo Galilei accurately observed it more than 400 years ago. Now we’re getting to the point of trying to land spaceships on the planet, which is the stated goal of President Donald Trump and his advisor, Elon Musk.

Some Las Vegans have been looking to the sky for hints of alien life for decades, but UNLV geoscience professor Libby Hausrath has gotten closer than any of them to finding sound proof.

Las Vegas locals began a project in the 1990s to protect a geological marvel at the edge of town. They made educational signs and were joined by politicians including late Sen. Harry Reid and then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, but the area was vandalized soon after.

Las Vegas locals began a project in the 1990s to protect a geological marvel at the edge of town. They made educational signs and were joined by politicians including late Sen. Harry Reid and then-Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, but the area was vandalized soon after.

NASA's Perseverance rover has been busy gathering bits of Mars — rock cores the size of chalk sticks, clusters of broken fragments no bigger than pencil erasers, and even grains of dust fine enough to sit on the tip of a needle.

New research and samples released today by NASA and UNLV show some early results of a years long mission dedicated to determining whether the planet Mars ever supported life.

UNLV recently released a report with findings on the first ever handpicked samples from Mars.

A new paper released today documents the first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples collected by NASA for return from Mars. We checked in with the UNLV astrobiologist leading the specimen selection team for intel on what the samples so far reveal.

NASA's Perseverance rover has successfully collected its first soil, airfall dust, and rock fragment samples, marking a historic step in Martian exploration. A new study highlights these early sample returns and their implications for understanding Mars' past.

In the search for extraterrestrial life, few things are more valuable than a scoop of dirt, provided it’s from the right place. NASA’s Perseverance rover has now collected such samples from Mars’ Jezero Crater, a location specifically chosen for its potential to reveal whether the Red Planet once harbored life, according to a new international study.