What happens to planets orbiting colossal stars like Stevenson 218? This video explores the science of planetary survival near a red supergiant, examining the challenges for potential alien life.

When you hear about planetary transits and movements, it might sound complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. The planets are always moving, and just like the moon affects the tides, these celestial ...

Astronomers have narrowed down the cosmic search for life, identifying fewer than 50 rocky planets among thousands of known ...

Earth’s history has been punctuated by at least five major ice ages. Some of these frigid periods of prolonged global cooling saw much of our planet locked in ice and snow for 100 million years. It ...

The experiments revealed a stable and repeating pattern of flow. Hot material rises on the day side, moves across the top, ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Some exoplanets, like the one shown in this illustration, may have atmospheres that could make them potentially suitable for life.

Earth may have won a cosmic chemistry lottery. Researchers found that during the planet’s earliest formation, oxygen had to be in an extremely narrow “Goldilocks zone” for two life-essential elements, ...

Scientists explain how simple chemicals, deep sea vents, and meteor impacts may have helped life begin on Earth.

For decades, many scientists have relied on the "hard steps" model to suggest that intelligent life is rare — the improbable result of a series of unlikely evolutionary leaps. But new research by ...

A team of researchers from the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences has found that early life breathed ...