For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has focused on distant exoplanets and the rusty plains of Mars. Now, a small icy world in orbit around Saturn is emerging as one of the most compelling ...

When astronomers announced Kepler-452b, they were not just adding another distant world to a growing catalog. They were pointing to a planet that orbits a star much like our own, in a region where ...

Red dwarfs make up the vast majority of stars in the galaxy. Such ubiquity means they host the majority of rocky exoplanets we've found so far—which in turn makes them interesting for astrobiological ...

Alien life could exist on hot, rocky planets, sustained not by water but by a type of salty fluid, new research suggests. Reading time 3 minutes The search for alien life usually hinges on finding the ...

Scientists say moons around rogue planets wandering through the galaxy could remain warm enough for life thanks to tidal heating and hydrogen-rich atmospheres. These dark, starless worlds may have had ...

An international research team led by the University of Vienna has produced, for the first time, high-resolution global maps of invasion risk for thousands of alien plant species under current ...

Scientists are listening in on sperm whale conversations and studying Earth's strangest microbes to prepare humanity for first contact with extraterrestrial life.

Biological invasions by plants pose a growing threat to biodiversity. Here we model potential current and future distributions of 9,701 naturalized alien plant species to project their potential ...