With roughly 100 billion galaxies hosting countless stars each, the universe seems like it should be teeming with life. But is it?

The universe is astonishingly vast. The Milky Way has more than 100 billion stars, and there are over a trillion galaxies in the visible universe, the tiny fraction of the universe we can see.

The ancient Greek philosopher Anaxagoras (500-428 BC) was the first person to hypothesize that the seeds of life are present ...

We have only one example of biology forming in the universe – life on Earth. But what if life can form in other ways? How do you look for alien life when you don’t know what alien life might ...

Despite the countless scientific and technological advancements over the course of human history, there are still a few big questions we’re no closer to answering … ...

If habitable worlds are rare, then we might be the only intelligent life in the galaxy, or even the visible universe. And yet, we're here. That must count for something, right?

As we understand it today, life on our world began, at the latest, only a few hundred million years after Earth was formed.

Thomas Beatty describes the search for life on other planets and the role of telescopes.

If life as we know it is indeed only possible only on these younger stars, then the universe could just be starting to blossom with cradles of life.

More and more astronomers are coming around to the idea that we’re not alone in the universe. To them, it’s a matter of math, and humility. With potentially trillions of life-supporting ...