The Sciences
A Tale of 2 Habitable Planets
New study explores how life on one exoplanet could spread to its neighbor
Extraterrestrial Life471 articles archived since 1845
The Sciences
Earth as an Alien World
Remote sensing can produce spectacular, and wholly alien, views of our homeworld.
Space & Physics
Graphic: A World of Exoplanet Discoveries
What we know about alien worlds—and what’s coming next
The Sciences
500-Million-Year-Old Brains and Life in the Universe
A new study provides substantial support for earlier claims of 520-million-year-old arthropod brain systems, raising interesting questions about the nature of brains, life and intelligence in the cosmos...
The Sciences
Early Origins for Life Raises Major Planetary Puzzles
A recent claim for evidence of life on Earth as early as 4.1 billion years ago runs headlong into prevailing theories about a period of heavy asteroid impacts and the reshuffling of the young solar system's orbital architecture...
Space & Physics
Human Missions to Mars Will Look Completely Different from The Martian
The blockbuster film’s futuristic vision of interplanetary exploration could soon be out of date
Space & Physics
How Our View of Mars Has Changed from Lush Oasis to Arid Desert
Once thought of as a lush alien world teeming with life and later dismissed as an arid, desolate orb, the Red Planet’s salty, liquid water just might aid in the search for extraterrestrial life...
The Sciences
Water Flows on Mars Today, NASA Announces
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found evidence that flowing water causes suspicious dark streaks on the Red Planet
The Sciences
Searching for Life in Martian Water Will Be Very, Very Tricky
The risk of microbial contamination could prevent humans and even robots from visiting the most promising parts of the Red Planet
Space & Physics
Cassini Confirms a Global Ocean on Saturn's Moon Enceladus
Ever since 2005, when NASA’s Cassini orbiter found plumes of water vapor spilling out of cracks in the south pole of Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus, researchers have sought to learn more about the moon’s mysterious interior as a possible abode for extraterrestrial life...
Space & Physics
Philae's Real-Time Descent and Enceladus's Global Ocean [Video]
This week brings a video reconstructed from images of the Philae lander's approach to a comet, and a major new analysis of data from the Cassini mission that bolsters the case for a global, not just local, ocean beneath the icy crust of Enceladus...
Evolution
Having an Existential Crisis? It Could be Worse, and Weirder
Living on a small planet in a big universe exposes us to all manner of existential problems, but what are the worst, and what are the weirdest?
Evolution
Archimedes, 3 Trillion Trees and Life in the Universe
A new estimate of Earth's total tree population shows previous estimates were seven times too low, and there are implications for efforts to understand the nature of life here and elsewhere in the universe...
Space & Physics
Alien Transit Systems May Be a Giveaway in the Search for ET
A Harvard professor devises a scheme to detect extraterrestrials by tracking how they might commute from one world to the next
Space & Physics
3 Years into Its Mission, Curiosity's Stunning Martian Panorama
NASA's Curiosity rover provides a beautiful, scientifically appetizing view of what's ahead on Mount Sharp on Mars
To Play or Not to Play the Exoplanet Name Game?
Campaigns to name exoplanets seem like Shakespearean farce
Space & Physics
Astronomers Glimpse a Young Jupiter, 51 Eridani b
The newfound planet is 96 light years away, but it's the closest twin to Jupiter astronomers have ever directly seen
Evolution
A New Era for Origins of Life Science?
A new effort to bring global cohesion to origins of life science launches, and with it a fresh look at how to crack one of the greatest existential questions.
Space & Physics
Life's Building-Block Chemicals Found on Comet by Lander
Instruments on the Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae lander discovered nitrogen and amino acids, key ingredients for life, on comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Space & Physics
Search for Alien Life Ignites Battle over Giant Telescope
Private funding for the Arecibo Observatory—the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world—may be a poison pill
