According to popular media, the search for alien life involves advanced technology, space exploration and sometimes even government conspiracies and secret programs. But according to University of ...

Machine learning is quietly rewriting the rules of the cosmic hunt for company. Instead of waiting to recognize familiar ...

In her new book "First Contact," journalist Becky Ferreira explores the scientific search for alien life, our cultural obsessions with extraterrestrials and why the truth may be more human than we ...

We’re celebrating 180 years of Scientific American. Explore our legacy of discovery and look ahead to the future. In the late 1800s Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli pointed a telescope at Mars ...