The last few years have been heady for planet hunters. First the hot Jupiters; then the will-o'-the-wisp Glieslings and their cousins; and the results from the Kepler mission, one of which is Kepler-22b.

By Gail Jacobs Astronomer Dr. Jill Tarter is Director of the SETI Institute's Center for SETI Research, and also holder of the Bernard M. Oliver C...

By Dr. Rachel Mastrapa; Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, and Gail Jacobs Rachel Mastrapa studies the surface ...

By Gail Jacobs Click on images for larger view The cosmos can be mysteriously alluring to all -- from the young in age to the young at heart. In par...

Lori's recent publications describe how dunes record climate change on Mars, the first evidence for dune migration on another planet, and how atmospheric models can be used to account for wind gustiness and its effects on sand movement.

After a starquake, says NASA's Dr. Jon Jenkins, "stars actually change their shape. This shape change causes an apparent change in brightness. As we study the brightness variations in time, we can essentially hear the songs of the stars."

By Gail Jacobs Dr. Darlene Lim is a geobiologist and limnologist at the Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute. Her ...

NASA should not have to resort to circus acts as the price for doing science. It's in such circumstances that violence is done to process, to rigor, to integrity.

It was clever of NASA to disclose its "amazing astrobiology discovery" right around budget-cutting time. But they should have better managed the hype -- and kept squarely in their memory the tale of the boy who cried wolf.

By Gail Jacobs Keen to achieve a wide picture of where life and its signatures for life are most successfully distributed, concentrated, preserved, a...

WASHINGTON — The discovery of a strange bacteria that can use arsenic as one of its nutrients widens the scope for finding new forms of life on ...

Has NASA made a breakthrough in the search extraterrestrial life? That's what some are speculating after NASA sent out a curious press release announc...

By Gail Jacobs When most people look at photos of the Martian landscape, they see the kind of dry topography that, while attractive, shows only that ...