Aliens have long been a staple of science fiction. Yet the possibility of intelligent life beyond Earth is more than a matter of imagination—it is also a subject of serious scientific inquiry.

Humans have wondered about life beyond our planet since ancient times, and researchers have worked hard for decades to find ...

Scientists may have just taken one of the biggest steps yet in the search for life beyond Earth. Meet K2 18 b, a distant exoplanet located about 124 light years away from us, and one of the most ...

Astronomers have narrowed down the cosmic search for life, identifying fewer than 50 rocky planets among thousands of known exoplanets that may have the right conditions to support life. Using new ...

By modeling how a planet without life develops its atmosphere, astronomers hope to be able to better distinguish rocky ...

This summer, exoplanet science—the study of planets orbiting stars beyond our sun—took a big step forward. Reports of helium gas escaping from the atmosphere of LHS 1140b propelled this exoplanet from ...

It’s a dizzyingly busy time for scientists searching for life on distant planets. To date, astronomers have cataloged more ...

A new study proposes detecting life in space by spotting patterns across many planets instead of focusing on one at a time. If life spreads and changes planetary environments, it could leave behind ...

For a long time, the field of searching for life has relied on a single checklist: oxygen, methane, amino acids, and lipids.

Everyone has probably looked up at the night sky and wondered, 'Is there someone out there somewhere in this universe?' It's ...