If alien life exists, its absence from our instruments may have several very different explanations. The longer the silence continues, the more interesting the mystery becomes.

Some scientists believe the sheer number of stars, planets and potentially habitable environments in space makes ...

Two major alien-life announcements in 2025 generated enormous excitement, but most astrobiologists remained unconvinced. Only 6.6% of surveyed experts thought possible biological molecules on K2-18b ...

In the late 1950s, a small group of scientists began to search for alien life. Among them was geneticist Joshua Lederberg at Stanford, who in 1960 spoke at the First International Space Science ...

Explore the fascinating search for intelligent alien life and the monumental signs of advanced civilizations across the ...

This summer, exoplanet science—the study of planets orbiting stars beyond our sun—took a big step forward. Reports of helium ...

Is intelligent alien life really out there? With powerful telescopes identifying more potentially habitable planets each year ...

When Christopher Columbus first came ashore in the Caribbean in 1492, he made first contact with what was, to him, an unfamiliar world. While his journey took place on ships rather than spacecraft, ...

Scientists are calling for a lunar quarantine facility where samples from Mars, the Moon, and beyond would be examined before being brought to Earth. They warn that even a tiny alien microorganism ...

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Scientists are listening in on sperm whale conversations and studying Earth's strangest microbes to prepare humanity for first contact with extraterrestrial life. Tardigrades—a type of invertebrate ...