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Astrobiology
The answer is set to change in the year 2113, a recent estimate suggests.
Two scientists recently wagered a bottle of whiskey. The bet? Whether we'll find evidence of advanced extraterrestrial life in the next 15 years.
Life became a possibility in the Universe as soon as the raw ingredients were present. But living, inhabited worlds required a bit more.
Fire was crucial to the evolution of human technology. That's why alien species stuck in the "oxygen bottleneck" may be forever primitive.
Earth wasn't created until more than 9 billion years after the Big Bang. In some lucky places, life could have arisen almost right away.
Teller and Sagan debated fiercely over nuclear proliferation. But was the conflict as personal as it was intellectual for Teller?
These theoretical megastructures represent one way an advanced civilization might harvest energy from stars.
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 confirmed exoplanets — very few of which resemble Earth.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, matter can escape the center of the Earth.
Looking back on our planet's early history offers a new (and less crazy) meaning for the idea of a "flat Earth."
"I grew up in New Jersey in the 1970s and that experience gave me everything I needed to become a skeptic."
Two of the answers add a dimension to physics that doesn’t belong there. Maybe we could call it "astrotheology."
Finding alien technology on the seafloor would be truly incredible. This extraordinary claim, however, is debunked by the actual evidence.
The TRAPPIST-1 system is a treasure trove of possibilities and questions. Observations by JWST have just begun.
Sophisticated rovers have found the conditions for Martian life, as well as the building blocks of life, but never life itself. AI can help.
"If we find just one other example of biology out there, then life is not an accident."
A true scientific view of if, where, and when extraterrestrial life exists is within our grasp thanks to biosignatures and technosignatures.
We don’t need to think about what life is made of but rather what it does.
Every astrobiologist wants to find an alien. But the public should be skeptical when the "aliens" look like tiny humans.
With such a vast Universe and raw ingredients that seem to be everywhere, could it really be possible that humanity is truly alone?
Within the next few decades, we may well have hard evidence for the existence of alien life on worlds light-years distant from Earth.
Some fascinating observations of K2-18b have come along with horrendous, speculative communications. There's no evidence for oceans or life.
Chemical changes inside Mars' core caused it to lose its magnetic field. This, in turn, caused it to lose its oceans. But how?
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
Looking at our planet with post-Copernican eyes has the power to change how we relate to it and each other.
By looking down, scientists are looking back in time.
Despite the vast number of planets in the Universe, Earth's specific evolutionary history guarantees that its life forms — including humans — are utterly unique.
Each of our three nearest stars might have an Earth-like planet in orbit around it. Here's what we'll learn when we finally observe it.
Over 50 years since humans last walked on the Moon, astronaut footprints and rover tracks are still visible. But they won't last forever.