Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Fred L. Smith Jr. Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Andromeda Galaxy, M31, with the Lunt 80mm f/7 doublet apo ...

Mankind doesn’t explore space solely in search of extraterrestrials, but we keep our eyes peeled. Still, scientists know that the chances of happening across a fellow traveler in the great beyond are ...

At first glance, the Drake Equation looks like a hopeful scientific tool. In reality, it leads to disturbing possibilities about isolation, extinction, and survival. This breakdown explains the ...

This places Drake in the company of towering physicists with equations named after them, including James Clerk Maxwell and Erwin Schrödinger. Unlike those, Drake’s equation does not encapsulate a law ...

This article by David Rothery is republished here with permission from The Conversation. This content is shared here because the topic may interest Snopes readers; it does not, however, represent the ...

Frank Drake, a pioneering astronomer, passed away at age 92, leaving behind a significant legacy in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Drake's Project Ozma, an early SETI experiment ...

The question of whether we are alone in the universe has plagued humanity since the dawn of time. It’s answer, one way or the other, could fundamentally alter our understanding of life, evolution, ...

This artist’s conception shows a hypothetical habitable planet with two moons orbiting a red dwarf star. Astronomers have found that 6 percent of all red dwarf stars have an Earth-sized planet in the ...

On November 1, the formula for estimating the abundance of extraterrestrial life in our galaxy celebrates its 50th birthday. It’s known as the Drake equation for its creator, Frank Drake, who is also ...

Paul Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University and the chief scientist at COSI science center. Sutter is also host of "Ask a Spaceman" and "Space Radio" and leads AstroTours around the ...