Extraterrestrial Life

Molecules in Enceladus’s icy plumes suggest that alien life could exist in our solar system

The genes of microbes living as deep as 1.5 kilometers below the surface reveal a split between minimalist and maximalist lifestyles

Conspiracy theories and, relatedly, antigovernment sentiment could prove toxic to any factual and scientific discussion of unidentified anomalous phenomena

NASA has appointed a director of unidentified anomalous phenomena research to advance that area of scientific investigation

There is a long U.S. legacy of plutocrat-funded pseudoscience. Congress just embraced it

An artist, a programmer and a scientist have created a simulation of extraterrestrial communication to test Earthlings’ ability to understand it

All who testified before a congressional subcommittee claimed that UFOs pose a threat to national security. So why haven’t the reports been made public?

For most of us, aliens are a source of mystery and fun, which keeps them forever in vogue

The discovery that life on Earth looks a lot like information propagating itself offers new clues, and new directions, to the hunt for life elsewhere

Human intelligence may be just a brief phase before machines take over. That may answer where the aliens are hiding

Cell-phone towers leak radio waves into space, but they’ll be tough for aliens to detect

Hints of life on distant worlds will come from signals pioneered by NASA’s jumbo space telescope