Astronomers have discovered that sulfur may be a key to helping us narrow down our search for life on other planets. It's not that sulfur is a great indication that a planet is inhabited.

When you’re in the mine, the sky is covered by gases. Day and night are confused. You feel suspended in time. Sunarto, 41 years old, carries a load of sulfur out of the Kawah Ijen crater.

Cartoon depiction of the sulfur cycle in different planetary regimes. In Earth-like case (A), atmospheric SO 2 is scrubbed from the atmosphere by wet deposition. In the Venus-like case with high ...

In February, the rover took photos of "waves" carved into "an ancient ... Curiosity has already found sulphur-based minerals – a mix of sulphur and other elements in compounds known as sulphates.