8things you never knew about the search foralien life

One of the most important features of extrasolar planets is whether they have an atmosphere or not. For astrobiology in particular, small, rocky planets blanketed with an atmosphere offer the best hop

When comet 3I/ATLAS was discovered in July, on a one-way interstellar journey through our Solar System, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb suggested it might be an alien spacecraft paying us a visit. Back in

When we imagine planets, we usually picture them circling a fiery star like our Sun. But new evidence has now been found of a type of planetary system that instead forms around cold planets that float

H umans love conspiracy theories. From the JFK assassination, the Illuminati and the ‘deep state’, to vaccine distrust and ‘chemtrails’, the modern world is awash with beliefs in collusion and hoaxes.

We’ve had a few false alarms before – including fossilised microbes and signs of carbon dioxide production in Martian rocks – but NASA has now cautiously suggested it’s found signs that life once exis

Imagine you’re in a woodland, with sunlight filtering through the endless green canopy overhead. There’s uniqueness everywhere. Some trees grow bolt upright, but others are wizened and twisted. Here t