In 1986, excavators surveying land for a power plant in Romania accidentally unearthed a strange cave. It had been sealed up ...

A new study used mathematical formulas and demonstrated that it’s highly unlikely life began on Earth. Instead, the ...

What would it mean for humans if there were another species out there, and how big is the challenge when the human species is just a speck among others in space? The bigger problems and challenges ...

Previous research suggests that brown dwarfs should contain phosphine—which forms when phosphorus combines with ...

A new study presented at the 2025 EPSC/DPS Joint Meeting proposes that the rarity of specific geological and atmospheric conditions necessary for technologically advanced life significantly limits the ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In the late 1800s Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli pointed a telescope at Mars ...

For decades, astronomers have searched the skies for proof that we’re not alone. Every new telescope, signal, and sample ...

If life exists on Mars, how would we know? Scientists have been grappling with this deceptively simple question for years. Kenneth Nealson, the Wrigley Professor of Geobiology at the University of ...

"If the ultimate result of this story is that the public is more circumspect about future claims of life detection, that's not a terrible thing." Recently, a team of University of Cambridge-led ...