Researchers from Penn State University proposed in a new academic paper that human-like lifeforms could arise as a logical consequence of a planet’s development — contradicting the long-held “hard ...

Astronomers used a 3D global computer model to compare the climates of exoplanets in different stellar and orbital configurations. They found that a planet orbiting a white dwarf star would offer a ...

While our solar system is a fascinating place on its own, exoplanets are even more of a mystery. And one exoplanet in particular is something quite new.

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.

Trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs) are icy bodies that vary widely in size, from large dwarf planets like Pluto and Eris—each ...

“Our existence is probably not an evolutionary fluke,” says Jennifer Macalady, a study co-author and microbiology professor ...

Roughly 300,000 years ago, our species first appeared on the African landscape before spreading globally and coming to ...

A new study rewrites the story of human evolution, suggesting that intelligent life is not rare but a natural planetary ...

For decades, we believed there were nine planets in our solar system—until Pluto was reclassified in 2006. But what if ...

Chris Wright spent part of his introductory speech criticizing German policies and championing natural gas. Experts in and out of the country say he oversimplified a complex process.

Last fall, the scientific community went into a minor frenzy. A hunk of interstellar material had been sucked into the ...

Is Earth really exceptional?  A new book seems to reaffirm that notion.  But given the right conditions, primitive life may be a mere byproduct of biophysics.