The first unmistakable signal from another intelligence would rank alongside fire and writing in the story of our species, ...

For decades, science fiction writers have tried their best to prepare us for eventual contact with aliens. Their efforts are dominated by several recurrent tropes. There's the invasion by a warlike ...

“Hollywood has preconditioned us to expect one of two types of alien contact, either a hostile invasion force or a benevolent ...

Complex, intelligent life in the galaxy appears vanishingly rare, with the nearest possible civilization perhaps 33,000 light-years distant. Yet despite the odds, scientists insist that continuing the ...

Technosignatures are theoretical signs of technologically advanced alien civilizations, but so far, none of those civilizations have phoned home. Researchers from the Search for ExtraTerrestrial ...

Where are all the aliens? No, I don’t mean microbes on Mars or creatures swimming beneath the ice crusts of Europa or Enceladus, but honest-to-God intelligent aliens, capable of space travel? The ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that finding—which won the scientists a portion of the 2019 Nobel Prize in ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I cover aerospace, astronomy & hosted The Cosmic Controversy Podcast. Nov 17, 2025, 05:21am EST Nov 28, 2025, 12:25am EST A team ...