Aliens

Aliens can refer to everything from little green men in the sci-fi realm to microscopic life forms beyond Earth. For all these possibilities, Live Science has you covered. We break down the latest discoveries that hint at life on other planets and the state of scientific searches for such extraterrestrial life. Sometimes, we may dissect a "little green man" sighting as well.

Related Topics: Planets, Robots, Astronauts, Paranormal

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U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified.

To be declassified: UFO broke sound barrier with no sonic boom

By Stephanie Pappas

Former Trump intelligence director John Ratcliffe told Fox News that more unexplained sightings of flying objects will soon be declassified.

exoplanet proxima b art

Can super-rotating oceans cool off extreme exoplanets?

By Paul Sutter

New research suggests a way to move heat around "tidally locked" alien planets: ocean currents whipping around the worlds faster than they rotate.

U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified.

CIA releases entire collection of UFO-related documents to truth-seeking website

By Brandon Specktor

The CIA just turned over 2,700 pages of UFO-related material to The Black Vault, a free repository of UFO records online.

The dot at the center of this image is 'Oumuamua, an object with unusual properties that moved through the solar system in 2017. Scientists never got a much better look at it than this, an issue that has helped seed an ongoing high-profile controversy. This image was taken on OCt. 28, 2017 with the William Herschel Telescope in the Canary Islands.

An alien machine already visited us, Harvard astrophysicist still contends

By Rafi Letzter

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb has reignited a debate about whether alien life can explain an object that visited the solar system in 2017 in a scathing new book.

An artist's illustration of the evolution of the interstellar object 'Oumuamua, whose weird, elongated shape may have come from tidal forces.

Here's what we learned about aliens in 2020

By Brandon Specktor

From the best places to find them to what they might breathe, here are the newest clues we discovered about alien life.

CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, also called The Dish, located in Australia.

Extraterrestrial evidence: 10 incredible findings about aliens from 2020

By Adam Mann

Are we alone in the universe? Many discoveries about aliens in 2020 seemed to increase the prospect of extraterrestrial entities existing.

CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, also called The Dish, located in Australia.

Alien hunters detect mystery signal coming from the closest star system

By Rafi Letzter

Astronomers hunting for radio signals from alien civilizations have reportedly detected an "intriguing signal" from the direction of Proxima Centauri, the nearest star system to the sun.

Major Jesse Marcel, head intelligence officer at the Roswell Army Air Field, investigated and recovered some of the debris from the Roswell UFO site in 1947.

Army officer's secret journal could offer new clues about the UFO crash in Roswell in 1947

By Mindy Weisberger

An army officer was among the first people to inspect wreckage of a so-called UFO crash in Roswell, New Mexico, and he may have recorded clues about what he saw in a journal.

The powerful 330-foot (100 meters) radio telescope at Green Bank, West Virginia.

Astronomers detect millions of signals from an intelligent civilization: Us

By Michelle Starr

The Universe seems like a lonely place.

simulation of the surface of Venus, with the Northern Hemisphere displayed

'Grand claims' of life on Venus lack evidence, skeptics say

By Adam Mann

A roundup of the various pushback and criticisms to the claim that there could be life on Venus

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover sits in the Marias Pass area of lower Mount Sharp.

The four most promising worlds for alien life in the solar system

By Gareth Dorrian

Venus just became a serious contender. But what are the other most promising locations for extra-terrestrial life?

Arecibo Observatory’s main collecting dish, which is among the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes, was badly damaged when a cable snapped on Monday, Aug. 10.

Alien-hunting telescope suffered 'no damage to electronics' during mysterious midnight disaster

By Brandon Specktor

Mysterious midnight disaster spared critical electronics in iconic alien-hunting telescope called the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

An artist's depiction of the first identified interstellar object, 'Oumuamua.

Interstellar visitor 'Oumuamua could still be alien technology, new study hints

By Rafi Letzter

The idea that interstellar object 'Oumuamua is a hydrogen iceberg has a flaw.

U.S. Navy videos of alleged UFO sightings were previously available but had not been officially declassified.

What does the Pentagon's new UFO task force mean? Experts weigh in.

By Leonard David

The Pentagon just announced the creation of a task force to analyze and understand the "nature and origins" of UFOs. Here's what the much-hyped news means.

Arecibo Observatory’s main collecting dish, which is among the world’s largest single-dish radio telescopes, was badly damaged when a cable snapped on Monday, Aug. 10.

Famous alien-hunting telescope slashed to pieces in mysterious midnight accident

By Brandon Specktor

Puerto Rico's famous alien-hunting telescope called the Arecibo Observatory took massive damage after a cable snapped in the dead of night.

Is the Pentagon secretly investigating UFOs or not?

Pentagon's secret, defunct UFO-hunting program may still exist

By Mindy Weisberger

A federal program for investigating UFOs was purportedly discontinued in 2012, but the Pentagon's search for UFOs never stopped. Its findings may soon be released to the public.

The shadowy world of government agencies' UFO investigations returns to the History Channel, in the documentary series "Unidentified."

Are UFOs a threat? We need to investigate, says former head of secret US program

By Mindy Weisberger

Ex-military investigators seek answers about where UFOs come from and what their intentions might be, in a History Channel documentary series.

An unidentified flying object (UFO) was seen above Aoba Ward in Sendai, Japan, on the morning of June 17, 2020.

'It's not ours': Government denies knowledge of strange 'UFO' over Japanese city

By Brandon Specktor

A strange balloon-shaped 'UFO' appeared and disappeared over the city of Sendai, Japan on Wednesday (June 17).

Alien spaceships above rocky planet.

Are there really 36 alien civilizations out there? Well, maybe.

By Stephanie Pappas

A new calculation posits that there are 36 intelligent alien civilizations sharing the Milky Way with humanity today, but it relies on some big assumptions.

The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) in southwest China's Guizhou Province.

Ready, SETI, go: Is there a race to contact E.T.?

By Leonard David

Researchers using China's huge new FAST radio telescope are piecing together a technological strategy to carry out a major and sweeping search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).