Extraterrestrial Life
Fatty Acids Might Exist in Space
A team of physicists have discovered that the environment of a molecular cloud in interstellar space can support the existence…
Forget the Habitable Zone – We Need to Find the Computational Zone
Astronomers are currently searching for signs of life in the "habitable zones" of nearby stars, which is defined as the…
Why ‘Contact’ still resonates after 25 years
25 years ago, the film Contact made its theatrical debut starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey and told the story…
Here are Four Ways JWST Could Detect Alien Life
There are many ways that the James Webb Space Telescope could search for life. Here are four promising ones.
Nitrous Oxide, aka “Laughing gas”, Could be an Indication of Life in an Exoplanet
A team of astronomers have proposed to hunt for signs of life by looking for the signature of nitrous oxide…
It Appears That Enceladus is Even More Habitable Than we Thought
It takes a watery world to support life as we know it, but it also takes a special bit extra.
Shallow Pockets of Water Under the ice on Europa Could Bring Life Close to its Surface
New research from Standford University has found an explanation for the most prominent features on Europa, based on similar featured…
Why Would an Alien Civilization Send Out Von Neumann Probes? Lots of Reasons, says a new Study
A new study takes a look at Von Neumann probes and asks the really important questions: "why would aliens send…
A Technique to Find Oceans on Other Worlds
A new study shows how next-generation observatories could directly observe oceans on exoplanets, which could narrow the search for extraterrestrial…
To Take the Best Direct Images of Exoplanets With Space Telescopes, we’re Going to Want Starshades
The Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems (JATIS) has released a special edition of papers dedicated to educating the…