Extraterrestrial Life

Could Oumuamua Be an Extra-Terrestrial Solar Sail?

The study — “Could Solar Radiation Pressure Explain ‘Oumuamua’s Peculiar Acceleration?” — was conducted by Shmuel Bialy and Abraham Loeb.

Universe Today

Oxygen-Rich Liquid Water May Exist on Mars

Brines suffused with the life-giving gas could offer hope for past and even present microbes on the Red Planet, according to a new study.

Scientific American

Science Strategies Chart Course for Detecting Life on Other Worlds

The National Academies has released science strategies for astrobiology and the study of exoplanets. The documents recommend steps to maintain the current rapid rate of progress in those fields and to enable the detection of life elsewhere in the universe.

American Institute of Physics

Cometlike Objects Could Be Spreading Life From Star to Star Throughout the Milky Way

In the new study, Idan Ginsburg, along with astrophysicists Manasvi Lingam and Abraham Loeb, also of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, calculated the chances of such objects delivering life to an alien world.

Science

Search for Alien Life Should Be a Fundamental Part of NASA, New Report Urges

A blue-ribbon committee finds the science of astrobiology is worthy of deep integration into the space agency’s exploration efforts.

Scientific American

Looking for the Origins of Life Using Synthetic Biology

An interview with Betul Kacar.

PLOS Synbio Community Blog

We May Not Have Found Aliens Yet Because We’ve Barely Begun Looking

A new calculation compares the effort so far to exploring a hot tub’s-worth of Earth’s oceans.

Science News

NASA Hosts Conference All About Looking for Signs of Civilization Beyond Earth

Adam Frank on the NASA Technosignatures Workshop.

All Things Considered, NPR

SETI Neural Networks Spot Dozens of New Mysterious Signals Emanating From Distant Galaxy

Seventy-two new “fast radio bursts” from a mysteriously noisy galaxy 3 billion miles away were discovered in previously analyzed data by using a custom machine learning model.

TechCrunch

Are We Alone? Tiny Spacecraft Will Head to Alpha Centauri to Find Out

Breakthrough Starshot seeks to discover whether there’s life on the planets orbiting our nearest star neighbors.

CNET

This Rocky Exoplanet Is the Most Likely to Support Life

Of the thousands of known exoplanets, Kepler-452b has the most ideal combination of UV light exposure and conditions for liquid water.

Seeker

There’s Water on Mars! Signs of Buried Lake Tantalize Scientists

A large saltwater lake seems to lurk under ice near Mars’s south pole. If confirmed, it would be the first body of liquid water ever detected on the red planet and a significant milestone in the quest to determine whether life exists there.

Nature

The Information of Intelligence

Defining intelligence anywhere in the universe is tricky, but there’s one thing that might provide a clue.

Scientific American

But, Seriously, Where Are the Aliens?

“Where is everybody?” That’s the question physicist Enrico Fermi asked in 1950. Nearly 70 years later, we’re getting tantalizingly close to solving the riddle known as Fermi’s Paradox: If the universe is so large and so old, why haven’t we found life on other planets?

Crazy/Genius, The Atlantic

Stop Looking for ET: Modelling Suggests We’re Alone in the Universe

Oxford University researchers run the numbers and conclude intelligent life beyond Earth is highly unlikely.

Cosmos

What If ET Is an AI?

After centuries searching for extraterrestrial life, we might find that first contact is not with organic creatures at all.

Aeon

NASA Rover Hits Organic Pay Dirt on Mars

In its quest to find molecules that could point to life on Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover has struck a gusher.

Science

Parallel Universes Could Be Hospitable to Life, Scientists Say

New research conducted by scientists from Durham University, Western Sydney University, and the University of Western Australia has demonstrated that other universes may in fact harbor the conditions to support life — if they exist.

Newsweek

Are We Alone?

The hunt for clues in the universe to answer one of humanity’s biggest questions.

NOVA

Congress Is Quietly Nudging NASA to Look for Aliens

The space agency hasn’t funded the search for extraterrestrial intelligence for 25 years. Could that soon change?

The Atlantic

Is Humanity Unusual In The Cosmos?

Adam Frank talks with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb about exo-civilizations, techno-signatures, and the search for alien life — living or long-gone.

13.7: Cosmos & Culture