Extraterrestrial Life, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2013

Strange New Worlds: The Amazing Alien Planet Discoveries of 2013

While astronomers didn't bag that elusive first alien Earth in 2013, they made plenty of exciting exoplanet discoveries during the past year. Here's a list of the top exoplanet finds of 2013, from a tiny world about the size of Earth's moon to a blue gas giant on which it...

Dec 31, 2012

Alien Life May Exist on Exoplanet Moons

In the search for an Earth-like alien world, astronomers have had their eyes set on planets beyond our solar system, but some moons orbiting some of these exoplanets may be just as likely to support life, scientists say. Astronomers have discovered more than 800 exoplanets, with many more candidate worlds...

Sep 30, 2014

Aliens May Be Out There, But Too Distant For Contact

The Milky Way may be home to some 3,000 extraterrestrial civilizations but the vast distances between our galactic cousins will make contact extremely rare, a new study concludes. Data collected by NASA’s Kepler space telescope and other observatories scouting for planets beyond the solar system indicate Earth is one of...

Apr 30, 2014

We'll Find Alien Life in This Lifetime, Scientists Tell Congress

Humans have long wondered whether we are alone in the universe. According to scientists working with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, the question may be answered in the near future. It's unproven whether there is any life beyond Earth, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, said...

Aug 31, 2016

Stephen Hawking Is Still Afraid of Aliens

Humanity should be wary of seeking out contact with alien civilizations, Stephen Hawking has warned once again. In 2010, the famed astrophysicist said that intelligent aliens may be rapacious marauders, roaming the cosmos in search of resources to plunder and planets to conquer and colonize. He reiterates that basic concern...

Apr 30, 2016

The Universe Has Probably Hosted Many Alien Civilizations: Study

Many other planets throughout the universe probably hosted intelligent life long before Earth did, a new study suggests. The probability of a civilization developing on a potentially habitable alien planet would have to be less than one in 10 billion trillion — or one part in 10 to the 22nd...

May 31, 2017

Talking to E.T.? Why Math May Be the Best Language

Communication between Earthlings and intelligent aliens should be based on mathematics — exo-arithmetic greetings that form a shared lingo, some researchers say. The idea is that mathematics is as much a part of our humanity as music and art. And it is mathematics that might be understandable — even familiar...

Nov 30, 2018

This Fluffy Alien World Farts Helium

Since scientists first found planets around other stars, many of their most striking discoveries have come from off-Earth instruments like NASA’s Kepler and Hubble space telescopes. Kepler has identified more than 2,000 verified planets passing by their stars, while Hubble observations have helped scientists characterize exoplanet atmospheres. But two new...

Nov 30, 2018

Alien Hunters, Stop Using the Drake Equation

Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI science center. Sutter is also host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio and leads AstroTours around the world. Sutter contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. For the precocious hunter...

Sep 30, 2018

Extraterrestrial Life Could Be Purple

Alien life might be purple. That's the conclusion of a new research paper that suggests that the first life on Earth might have had a lavender hue. In the International Journal of Astrobiology, microbiologist Shiladitya DasSarma of the University of Maryland School of Medicine and postdoctoral researcher Edward Schwieterman at...

May 31, 2018

Water May Not Be the Only Sign of Alien Life

(Inside Science) – When it comes to looking for alien life, scientists mostly focus on where there is water. Now researchers suggest that looking at bioessential elements such as phosphorus and molybdenum could help judge a world's potential for life. There is life virtually wherever there is water on Earth,...

Apr 30, 2018

This Alien World Has No Clouds, and That's Weird

The team, led by Nikolay Nikolov, an astronomer at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, detected this hot gas giant, known as WASP-96b, using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. The team determined the atmospheric makeup of the exoplanet by studying it as it passed...

Apr 30, 2018

Intelligent Aliens Might Speak Our Language. And You Can Help Decode Their Messages.

Stay sharp! You may be needed to help decode a message from intelligent aliens someday. The work of professional linguists, mathematicians and scientists is probably not going to be enough to unravel a cosmic mystery missive, said Sheri Wells-Jensen, a linguist at Bowling Green University in Ohio who also serves...

Mar 31, 2018

Why Extraterrestrial Life May Be More Unlikely Than Scientists Thought

Phosphorus is an essential element for life — but that there was enough of it for life to start on Earth might just have been a matter of luck, new findings suggest. According to new observations of the Crab Nebula — the leftovers from an exploding star first seen by...

Oct 31, 2019

Will 2020 Be the Year We Find Intelligent Alien Life?

In the past three decades, scientists have found more than 4,000 exoplanets. And the discoveries will keep rolling in; observations suggest that every star in the Milky Way galaxy hosts more than one planet on average. Given a convergence of ground- and space-based capability, artificial intelligence/machine learning research and other...