Science has advanced rapidly in understanding life’s origins on Earth and in exploring the Solar System, discovering exoplanets, and mapping stars and galaxies. Despite these capabilities, no definitive signs of life beyond Earth have been detected. Past claims and potential evidence—such as canals on Mars, Viking lander results, the Wow! Signal, microfossils in a Martian meteorite, Tabby’s star dimming from alien megastructures, and UFO/UAP videos—have not held up under follow-up observations and searches. Even with repeated false alarms, the possibility of life remains credible because the formation of stars can lead to planets and moons, and suitable ingredients can enable chemical-based life to emerge on some worlds.
"Science has come remarkably far here in the 21st century: uncovering much about the history and origins of life on Earth, exploring planets, moons, and distant worlds in situ in our own Solar System, discovering thousands of exoplanets around stars beyond the Sun, measuring billions of stars in the Milky Way, and learning that there are trillions of galaxies within the observable Universe."
"But despite everything that we've discovered and all the scientific and technological capabilities that we've unlocked, we have yet to find any surefire signatures of life in the Universe beyond the life whose home is right here on Earth. We've fooled ourselves many times as far as thinking we'd found evidence for extraterrestrial life goes."
"Were there canals on Mars carved by intelligent aliens? Did we detect life on Mars in a Viking lander experiment? Was the Wow! Signal evidence of alien communications? Did a Martian meteorite possess microfossils that indicated the presence of life? Did the dimming of Tabby's star indicate the presence of alien megastructures? And have UFO/UAP videos reveal the existence of alien spacecraft on Earth? The answer to all of these questions appears to be "no," as follow-up and searches for confirmation of these extraordinary hypotheses have all come back negative."
"In many ways, the prospect of life in the Universe is a lottery. With every star that forms, there's a chance to form planets, moons, and other substantially massive bodies. On every such world with the right sets of ingredients, there's the chance for chemical-based life to arise from those raw predecessor materials. On each world where life arises, there's a"
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