Ion microscope image of ancient (probably fungal) structures in rock.
Newcastle University
Rocks on Mars are surprisingly similar to those on Earth.
Artist’s impression of the surface of the planet Proxima b, orbiting Proxima Centauri.
ESO/M. Kornmesser
Scientists have finally found an Earth-like planet we may actually be able to visit.
Well, maybe.
BagoGames/Flickr
It may make sense for intelligent aliens to have two eyes and ears on one head, and to walk upright. But other particulars – including their colour – are more open to speculation.
Welcome, mates.
Stocksnapper/Shutterstock
Some argue that it would be impossible to understand an alien language, as it wouldn’t have the same grammar as humans use. But others are more optimistic.
According to a recent poll, 45 percent of Americans believe extraterrestrials have visited the Earth.
Raphael Terra, 'UFO Sunset.'
Whether it’s Hillary Clinton’s courting the UFO vote or Donald Trump’s lending credibility to various conspiracy theories, the “triumph of reason” seems to have gone by the wayside.
#FoundThem.
ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)
In a world of blogs, twitter and open data, scientists need to think again about how they’d communicate a discovery of alien life.
We’re on the hunt for life – what do we do when we find it?
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A philosopher argues that now is the time to figure it out, before we make the inevitable discovery of extraterrestrial life.
A laser could hide – or broadcast – our existence.
European Southern Observatory
There are technological ways to hide a planet from intergalactic detection – as well as ways to signal that we’re just sitting here, eager for contact.
Artist’s impression.
Don Davis (work commissioned by NASA)
Study suggests that comets and meteorites could have seeded planets beyond our own solar system with life.
Schiaparelli separating from Trace Gas Orbiter.
ESA–D. Ducros
If we do find life on Mars, it will be difficult to prove that we didn’t bring it there from Earth. An insider talks us through what’s at stake.
If you’re looking for life, you’d do well to look for some moons.
Maxwell Hamilton
As the list of known planets beyond our solar system grows, the search for their moons is intensifying. One reason: they might hold the key to finding life elsewhere in the universe.
Gullies inside a Martian crater.
NASA
Have we been jumping to conclusions about water on Mars?
Latest observations suggest that cometary dust could be blocking light from strangely twinkling star.
NASA
Dust from pulverised comets rather than an alien megastructure could explain odd flicker of distant star.
Could this ever happen between close planetary neighbours?
Tom/Flickr
New research gives a clue about what happens when there are two habitable worlds in the same solar system.
Gliese Cc: Artist’s impression of sunset on one of the most Earth-like exoplanets.
ESO/L. Calçada/wikimedia
Is there another Earth out there? Certainly, there are a few contenders
The tail of a comet is the release of interplanetary dust.
Soerfm/wikimedia
Cosmic dust may have jump-started life on Earth as well as on distant planets.
Mars is not great for sunbathing anymore.
ESA/DLR/FU Berlin
The solar wind has stripped Mars of its atmosphere, making it a lot less habitable than it once was.
Will Cassini find evidence of microbial life in the plumes from Enceladus? A new study has made it a whole lot easier.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute
Study pinpoints some of the chemical signs of microbial life on Enceladus. The study could in part be corroborated by Cassini’s flyby of the moon.
Scientists can’t explain strange flickering from distant star.
Kosmos24/wikimedia
The chance that Kepler has spotted construction of a Dyson sphere are very low but it could also be the ruins of such a structure.
Is this what we’re seeing around KIC 8462852 - a colossal megastructure built by alien intelligence? Probably not. The reality might be even more interesting.
Kevin Gill/Flickr
There’s a lot of speculation about a star behaving strangely in our galaxy. But even if it’s not evidence of alien intelligence, it’s sure to be an amazing discovery.