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Illustration of life forms on a hypothetical planet with a slightly lower mass than the Earth. It has shallow seas and extreme tides due to its large moon (thin crescent at left). The vegetation is translucent which allows the light to shine through, so it seems to be glowing, due to it being backlit in this image.

Comment

The hunt for alien planets and extraterrestrial life

Lisa Kaltenegger has been working on how to find life on exoplanets since the 1990s. Her new book, Alien Earths, brings her quest to vivid life

Culture

Eruption of Strokkur Geysir in Iceland

Life

Protocells on early Earth may have been formed by squeezing geysers

News

Space

Planets that look alike might be a sign of spacefaring aliens

News

3d rendered medically accurate illustration of amino acids

Life

Life’s vital chemistry may have begun in hot, cracked rock

News

Space

Europa’s seafloor may be impenetrable and inhospitable to life

News

cross-section through Europa

Space

Europa may have less oxygen to fuel life in its seas than we thought

News

How our golden age of asteroid exploration could reveal life's origins

Space

How our golden age of asteroid exploration could reveal life's origins

Features

Space

Why space dust is key to everything from star birth to life on Earth

News

Space

Habitable ocean world K2-18b may actually be inhospitable gas planet

News

Roman Space Telescope

Space

Why we're finally on the cusp of finding exomoons around other planets

Moons circling exoplanets would be some of the most promising places to look for life outside our solar system. Now, we might finally be about to find these elusive objects

Features

Chemistry

Casimir Funk: The scientist who gave us the word 'vitamin'

News

Life

Does trophy hunting actually help animal conservation?

News

Chemistry

Crucial chemical for life can form in conditions found on early Earth

News

Space

Cosmic dust may have been crucial to the beginnings of life on Earth

News