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How a radical redefinition of life could help us find aliens

How a radical redefinition of life could help us find aliens

19 June 2023

Sara Imari Walker, who developed Assembly Theory with chemist Lee Cronin, explains how the theory's definition of life might help us find it on other planets


The hunt for habitable ocean worlds beyond our solar system

The hunt for habitable ocean worlds beyond our solar system

24 October 2022

Astronomers think that planets covered in water, with oceans hundreds of metres deep, could be relatively common in our galaxy. Now the race is on to find one


Alien plants: The search for photosynthesis on other worlds

Alien plants: The search for photosynthesis on other worlds

5 May 2021

Looking for signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres is fraught with uncertainty. But now that we can detect polarised light reflected directly off other worlds, we could spot unmistakable evidence of photosynthesis


Avi Loeb interview: Could ‘Oumuamua be alien technology after all?

Avi Loeb interview: Could ‘Oumuamua be alien technology after all?

10 February 2021

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has drawn criticism for suggesting a weird object passing through the solar system could be an alien spacecraft. But he insists we must keep an open mind when nature throws us a curveball


Dyson spheres: How to spot an alien megastructure

Dyson spheres: How to spot an alien megastructure

27 January 2021

Intelligent extraterrestrials may have built vast solar power plants around their host stars. The hunt for their telltale glow is hotting up


Why we're in for a long wait to hear from intelligent aliens

Why we're in for a long wait to hear from intelligent aliens

30 September 2020

Hints of bacteria on Venus are encouraging, but finding life beyond Earth is the easy part. A new analysis suggests the evolution of human-like intelligence on another planet is more improbable than we like to imagine


Strange worlds unlike Earth may be our best bet to find alien life

Strange worlds unlike Earth may be our best bet to find alien life

26 August 2020

From rogue worlds that roam the cosmos alone to Tatooines that orbit two suns, astronomers are expanding our definition of habitable exoplanets


Inflatible green Aliens standing in line

Alien life could be weirder than our Earthling brains can ever imagine

11 December 2019

Our conceptions of alien life are based on a sample of one: Earth’s life. That means even our wildest imaginings are likely to be completely off beam


life artwork

Why the hunt for alien life is under way far beneath Earth's surface

13 November 2019

Microbes that breathe sulphur could redefine what it means to be alive and provide clues about what organisms may lurk in the cosmos


night sky artwork

Are there any aliens out there? We are close to knowing for sure

28 August 2019

Next-generation telescopes and new ways of detecting life on other planets are transforming the search for extraterrestrials. We may finally be about to find out if aliens exist


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