Extraterrestrial Life
JWST’s Exoplanet Images Are Just the Beginning of Astrobiology’s Future
Hints of life on distant worlds will come from signals pioneered by NASA’s jumbo space telescope
Extraterrestrial Life460 articles archived since 1845
Extraterrestrial Life
How Far Should We Take Our Cosmic Humility?
For centuries, scientific discoveries have suggested humanity occupies no privileged place in the universe. Now, however, studies of worlds beyond our solar system could place meaningful new limits on our existential mediocrity...
Extraterrestrial Life
Mars Rovers Might Miss Signs of Alien Life, Study Suggests
The hunt for Martian life focuses on detecting organic molecules that could indicate its past existence. Are our instruments up to the task?
Extraterrestrial Life
Life Evolves. Can Attempts to Create ‘Artificial Life’ Evolve, Too?
Do efforts to create life—by cooking up imitations in computers, robots and molecules—point toward a universal definition of biology?
Extraterrestrial Life
‘Unstable’ Moons May Be Obliterating Alien Life across the Universe
Collisions between moons and planets may be a regular danger for possible extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial Life
How Do We Find Aliens? Maybe Unlearn What We Know About ‘Life’ First
Science might be redefining what “life out there” really means.
Defense
Chinese Spy Balloon Saga Shows UFOs Deserve Serious Investigations
By shunting pilot observations aside, the Pentagon likely fostered a UFO fad and overlooked Chinese intelligence technology entering U.S. airspace
Extraterrestrial Life
At Jupiter, JUICE and Clipper Will Work Together in Hunt for Life
A new European mission is the first of two spacecraft—with the other coming from NASA—that will hunt for signs of habitability on Jupiter’s icy moons
Extraterrestrial Life
Scientists Try to Get Serious about Studying UFOs. Good Luck with That
New dedicated observatories and crowdsourced smartphone apps will study strange sightings in the sky. But questionable data quality and a lack of shared research standards remain key challenges...
Extraterrestrial Life
Will an AI Be the First to Discover Alien Life?
SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is deploying machine-learning algorithms that filter out earthly interference and spot signals humans might miss
Astronomy
JWST Heralds a New Dawn for Exoplanet Science
The James Webb Space Telescope is opening an exciting new chapter in the study of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth
Extraterrestrial Life
The Search for Extraterrestrial Life as We Don’t Know It
Scientists are abandoning conventional thinking to search for extraterrestrial creatures that bear little resemblance to Earthlings
Extraterrestrial Life
Life on Mars May Have Been Its Own Worst Enemy
A new study suggests that billions of years ago microbes may have thrived on Mars before succumbing to freezing temperatures of their own making
Extraterrestrial Life
50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: October 2022
No life on the moon; safe gas at home
Extraterrestrial Life
Perseverance Mars Rover Makes ‘Fantastic’ Find in Search for Past Life
NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected four rock samples from an ancient river delta where organisms might have thrived
Extraterrestrial Life
Frank Drake’s Courageous Questions Live On
Drake’s curiosity and ambition turned the search for extraterrestrial intelligence into the scientific venture it is today
Extraterrestrial Life
SETI Pioneer Frank Drake Leaves a Legacy of Searching for Voices in the Void
Remembering Frank Drake, who led science in listening for an extraterrestrial “whisper we can’t quite hear”
Extraterrestrial Life
Cultural Bias Distorts the Search for Alien Life
“Decolonizing” the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could boost its chances of success, says science historian Rebecca Charbonneau
Extraterrestrial Life
With New Study, NASA Seeks the Science behind UFOs
Although modest in scope, a NASA research project reflects shifting attitudes toward the formerly taboo subject of UFOs
Extraterrestrial Life
New Instrument Could Spy Signs of Alien Life in Glowing Rocks
Organisms on Earth produce a wide array of durable “biofluorescent” materials. If those on other planets do, too, the Compact Color Biofinder should be able to detect them
