Aliens

The Bonneville Crater on Mars

Mars Surface May Be Too Toxic for Microbial Life

The combination of UV radiation and perchlorates common on Mars could be deadly for bacteria

Artist's impression of a comet swarm around Tabby's Star

The “Alien Megastructure” Star Is Acting Up Again

A large dip in the star's brightness suggests something massive is orbiting the fiery body

Image on the original Pioneer 10 and 11 plaques

Now You Too Can Own a Piece of Space History

The engraver who inscribed Carl Sagan's and Frank Drake's 1973 message to extraterrestrials is now taking orders

Why Morning Glories Could Survive Space Travel

The seed of the common garden flower could survive long journeys in space

Computer-simulated global view of Venus.

The Case for Going to Venus

Sending a probe to Earth’s lifeless twin could help us understand how life rises—and falls—on faraway planets

An artists rendering of how a solar sail might be powered by a radio beam from the surface of a planet

Are Fast Radio Bursts from Alien Spacecraft? It's Unlikely, but Possible

A new paper raises the (distant) possibility that the unusual high-energy bursts from the cosmos are from intergalactic ships

What thorny ethical issues await us once we make it to Mars? A composite image of the red planet, composed by processing about 1000 Viking Orbiter red- and violet-filter images have been to provide global color coverage at a scale of 1 km/pixel.

When Humans Begin Colonizing Other Planets, Who Should Be in Charge?

The biggest threat humans pose to other worlds is what we don’t know—or what we think we know, but don’t

British statesman and author Winston Churchill reads correspondence at his desk in 1933.

“Are We Alone in the Universe?” Winston Churchill's Lost Extraterrestrial Essay Says No

The famed British statesman approached the question of alien life with a scientist's mind

The Great Flying Saucer Mystery of 1966

When policemen spotted a "flying saucer" in 1966, an official investigation declared it was an optical illusion created by swamp gas

The Evpatoria radio telescope RT-70 and the Long Range Space Communications Center, which were used for one of the most ambitious efforts at extraterrestrial communication.

How a Couple of Guys Built the Most Ambitious Alien Outreach Project Ever

You might think it takes vast governmental resources to launch an extraterrestrial communication effort. Nope

Think Curiosity is cool? You ain't seen nothing yet.

How the Next Generation of Mars Rovers will Search for Signs of Life

The Mars 2020 rover doesn’t even have a name yet—but it already has an ambitious goal

The Ratan-600 radio telescope, which reported the signal to the SETI Institute

That "Strong" SETI Signal Probably Isn't Aliens

Sorry folks, E.T. is still not phoning home

Invasive kudzu girdles a forest.

The Global Price of Invasive Species

The U.S. and China pose the greatest threat as exporters of invasive species, but other countries have more to lose

This artist's concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA's Kepler space telescope.

How Would You React If We Discovered Alien Life?

Experts weigh in on what the detection of other life forms might mean to the human race

"Science fiction is so important to our culture, because it allows us to dream," said Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, at the "Future is Here" festival.

The Future Is Here Festival Considers Extraterrestrial Life and the Essence of Humanity

In the festival's final day, speakers turn to the cosmos and our place within it

Chandra image of the Antenna Galaxy.

Life in the Cosmos: Special Report

Exploring the mysteries of the universe

Nematodes (blue) wiggle inside a stalactite from a South African gold mine in this image taken with a microscope.

Inner Earth Is Teeming With Exotic Forms of Life

More than a mile below the surface, our planet supports diverse creatures that could give us clues about life across the solar system

A picture snapped by Spirit near Home Plate shows silica formations poking out of the soil, which may have been formed by microbial life.

Mysterious Martian 'Cauliflower' May Be the Latest Hint of Alien Life

Unusual silica formations spotted by a NASA rover look a lot like structures formed by microbes around geysers on Earth

This visualization, built using data from the Planck satellite, shows the swirls of the Milky Way's magnetic field. The orange region represents the galactic plane.

Where Are All the Aliens? Taking Shelter From the Universe's Radiation

Earlier life-forms across the cosmos may have faced thousands to millions of times the cosmic ray dose that we do today

The data readout of the "Wow! signal"

Was the "Wow!" Signal From Aliens or a Comet Flyby?

The 1977 blast from space is often cited as our best evidence of alien contact, but a news study suggests it may have just been comets

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