Astrobiologists in Germany are developing a new testing device that could help tease dormant alien microbes into revealing themselves — and its key ingredient is a common amino acid that’s found in ...

Recent observations suggest that scientists have identified potential microbial fingerprints in the atmospheres of other planets, raising intriguing questions about the possibility of alien life ...

When you think of threats from outer space, you might picture deadly solar flares, planet destroying asteroids, or even a hostile alien invasion. But scientists warn that the biggest danger could be ...

From Viking to Perseverance, scientists have spent decades chasing chemical hints that could point to life beyond Earth.

The search for extraterrestrial life has always been a key motivator of space exploration. But if we were to search Mars, Titan, or the subsurface oceans of Europa or Enceladus, it seems like all we ...

Aliens may have been closer to Earth than first thought. New research from NASA reveals that Ceres, the dwarf planet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, harbored the right conditions to ...

Finding life in outer space is one of the great endeavors of humankind. One approach is to find motile microorganisms that can move independently, an ability that is a solid hint for life. If movement ...

Okay, that last bit is a little clunky. But the end of something is never entirely pretty, is it? Phil Torres is a scholar of the end times. He’s also an atheist, an affiliate of the Institute for ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. An award-winning reporter writing about stargazing and the night sky. Is there life on Venus? A new space mission led by the U.K.

Protecting planets from extraterrestrial invasion might sound like a job that only exists in science fiction. But NASA recently posted a "Help Wanted" ad for exactly this position, under the name ...

It now has not one but two new options to choose from — both are faster and cheaper. The samples could return as soon as 2035 and may contain the first-ever signs of ancient alien life. The ...

High-energy particles zipping through the cosmos are harmful to life on Earth, but scientists think it could be food for potential alien life elsewhere. Saturn's moon Enceladus (shown here in a 2006 ...