Would You Bet Your Species on "Earth-Like"?
The announcement of a newly confirmed exoplanet in Kepler data within its star's "habitable zone" is great news, but also reinforces some misconceptions about what an Earth-like world means.
Kepler Mission Discovers a Near-Twin of Earth Orbiting Sunlike Star
The planet, Kepler 452 b, is likely rocky and orbits in its star’s habitable zone where liquid water can exist
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Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Nets Historic Cash Infusion
With a $100-million donation, billionaire Yuri Milner plans to revolutionize the astronomical quest to find alien life
Alien Intelligence Search Gets Major New Push
Entrepreneur and former physicist Yuri Milner talks about the just-announced $100-million Breakthrough Listen Project to search for extraterrestrial technological civilizations
Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner Announce $100M Initiative to Seek ET
Milner, a tech start-up entrepreneur and philanthropist, is partnering with scientists around the world to search for life among the stars
New Horizons Delivers First Close-Up Glimpse of Pluto and Charon
High-resolution images of the icy worlds reveal towering mountains, yawning canyons and perhaps hints of a subsurface ocean
At Pluto, the End of a Beginning
Early this morning, if all has gone well, the first golden age of interplanetary exploration will have come to a close
Astronomers Glimpse a Young Jupiter, 51 Eridani b
The newfound planet is 96 light years away, but it's the closest twin to Jupiter astronomers have ever directly seen
Taking the Weight of an Alien World
Making Space for Everyone: A Q&A with BoldlyGo's Jon Morse
NASA’s former director of astrophysics plans to revolutionize space science with agile, privately funded missions
Exotic Glass Could Help Unravel Mysteries of Mars
Brown University researchers have detected glass deposits on Mars that might contain evidence of past conditions and, possibly, life
Mars Surface Glass Could Hold Ancient Fossils
Scientists have found ancient "impact glass" on the surface of Mars, which formed when asteroids struck, a billion or more years ago. If anything was alive at the time, biological materials could be trapped inside. Christopher Intagliata reports