When scientists describe “Earth-like” planets, the phrase often brings to mind worlds scattered across the galaxy, quietly ...

Across astronomy and astrobiology, a quiet but profound shift is underway. Instead of assuming the galaxy teems with civilizations, a growing body of research argues that complex, technological life ...

Some of the greatest evolutionary biologists of the 20th century famously dismissed the prospect of humanlike intelligence beyond Earth. Editor’s note: The Focus on Research column highlights ...

For decades, many scientists have relied on the "hard steps" model to suggest that intelligent life is rare — the improbable result of a series of unlikely evolutionary leaps. But new research by ...

The evolution of humans on Earth may not be entirely exceptional. That is because intelligent life is likely to form if certain planetary conditions are met, a new study suggests. This idea displaces ...

A new model increases the probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, upending the decades-old “hard steps” theory that intelligent life was an incredibly improbable event on Earth. Are ...

For decades, scientists assumed that life on Earth emerged through a chain of highly improbable flukes. But a new theory suggests it may have instead arrived just in time. When you purchase through ...

Humanity may not be extraordinary but rather the natural evolutionary outcome for our planet and likely others, according to a new model for how intelligent life developed on Earth. Humanity may not ...

(THE CONVERSATION) A popular model of evolution concludes that it was incredibly unlikely for humanity to evolve on Earth, and that extraterrestrial intelligence is vanishingly rare. But as experts on ...

Daniel Brady Mills receives funding from the German Research Foundation. Jason Wright works for Penn State University, where his research in the search for life in the universe is supported by ...