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Nikolaas Tinbergen's concept of "supernormal stimulus" explains why humans are attracted to a heightened version of reality.

There's an entire Universe out there. So, with all that space, all those planets, and all those chances at life, why do we all live here?

Looking back on our planet's early history offers a new (and less crazy) meaning for the idea of a "flat Earth."

JWST just found its first transiting exoplanet, and it's 99% the size of Earth. But with no atmosphere seen, perhaps air is truly rare.

The TRAPPIST-1 system is a treasure trove of possibilities and questions. Observations by JWST have just begun.

Astrophysicist Michelle Thaller explains how a solar storm could wipe out civilization… and what we can do to prevent catastrophe.

Freethink's weekly countdown of the biggest space news, featuring a stranded space factory, Jeff Bezos' new moon lander, and more.

Multiple lines of evidence — physical, chemical, and biological — must converge for scientists to conclude that alien life has been found.

Ingenuity is remarkable. But these 5 exploration ideas are revolutionary. Telescopes are our initial tools for revealing and studying foreign worlds. Hubble images of Mars, particularly around the regions with […]

The Schumann resonances are the background hum of the entire planet. But they don't affect humans in any way.

Neptune holds records in our Solar System, but the Universe gets even faster. Here on Earth, extreme weather events can cause dramatic wind speed spikes. When hurricanes are at their most […]

The classic picture of Jupiter's great rocky core might be entirely wrong.

Life finds a way — particularly if it has a moon.

From life on Earth to the planet itself, there are four ways our planet will actually experience "the end," no matter how we define it.

Some fascinating observations of K2-18b have come along with horrendous, speculative communications. There's no evidence for oceans or life.

Embark on a journey through one of the most profound ecological transitions in the history of complex life.

If there’s no phosphine, there’s no indirect evidence for biological activity there. In one of the biggest surprises in the history of planetary science, a September 2020 study announced the presence […]

Using cellulose from trees and a synthetic polymer, MIT researchers have created a material that "is stronger and tougher than some types of bone, and harder than typical aluminum alloys."

Once at the pinnacle of Amsterdam’s art scene, Rembrandt van Rijn eventually found himself outcompeted by his own students.

It's like a little magnetic "nom, nom."

Asteroid collisions aren't always bad.

I’m not saying it’s not aliens, but it’s not aliens. When it comes to life in the Universe, we still have no definitive answer to the biggest question of all, “are […]

Nobody actually knows what will come of AI. But we can console ourselves with the knowledge that nobody has ever really known anything about the future.

Scientists have detected within the Venusian atmosphere a chemical known to be a byproduct of life.

The answer may lie in the particular way sand forms on Titan.

The far side of the Moon is incredibly different from the Earth-facing side. 63 years later, we know why the Moon's faces are not alike.

There will always be "wolf-criers" whose claims wither under scrutiny. But aliens are certainly out there, if science dares to find them.

Finding out we're not alone in the Universe would fundamentally change everything. Here's how we could do it.

Whether they’re gas giants or rocky planets makes all the difference for life. Over the past 30 years, we went from not knowing if there were planets like ours around other […]

Here’s how the closest place to “hell” in our Solar System might actually be home to life. From afar, Venus seems like the most uninhabitable planet of all. NASA’s Magellan mission […]