A new paper posits that advanced alien civilizations may communicate through subtle flashes, like fireflies do on Earth. The ...

It is unclear whether a [3I/ATLAS] would transmit radio signals … such signals would take tens of thousands of years to cross ...

Machine learning is quietly rewriting the rules of the cosmic hunt for company. Instead of waiting to recognize familiar ...

NASA has selected advanced technologies to power a future space telescope designed to image Earth-like planets and search ...

A new study suggests that cosmic radiation could potentially provide the energy to kick-start extraterrestrial life deep beneath the surface of icy worlds like Mars, Europa and Enceladus. When you ...

Historically, many scientists and society have been fascinated by the prospect of making contact with extraterrestrial ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In the late 1800s Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli pointed a telescope at Mars ...

In the many decades of NASA exploration, there has only been one detection that got on that scale. It was collected by the ...

Science fiction writer and futurist Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” And perhaps that fear is what ...

"Considering the direction and frequency of our most common signals gives insights into where we should be looking to improve our chances of detecting alien technosignatures." When you purchase ...

Within the next 20 years, human beings could discover life on other planets. It was this startling prediction—and the subsequent realization that kids sitting in elementary school classrooms today ...

From the physical world to the biological universe: Democritus to Lowell -- Plurality of worlds and the decline of anthropocentrism -- Life in the solar system: the limits of observation -- Planetary ...