A computer model tested whether the layout of tiny pores in rock could make lifeless chemistry complex enough to look like a ...

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 ...

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 ...

Scientists may have found a powerful new way to hunt for alien life — not by searching for specific molecules, but by looking for hidden patterns in how those molecules are organized. Researchers ...

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 ...

This summer, exoplanet science — the study of planets orbiting stars beyond our sun — took a big step forwards. LHS 1140b orbits a faint, red star within the constellation of Cetus — named after a ...

Two rovers have had big breaks over the past few years in the case of whether Mars ever hosted life. Curiosity, which is exploring Gale Crater, conducted a chemistry experiment on a rock sample that ...

Finding evidence of alien life would be “the biggest discovery ever made by humanity,” one expert said. But so far, there’s a lot of blurry photos and unconfirmed reports.

When we look across the Universe, we might come to the conclusion that intelligent life is really a very rare thing indeed ...

Where did it start? How did it grow complex? Why did it get big? Three moments in Earth’s early history when evolution ...

If we aspire to mount expeditions to new worlds and then embrace the task of characterizing and quantifying whatever life ...