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The essential guide to proving we’ve found alien life

Space

The essential guide to proving we’ve found alien life

From mudstones on Mars to strange gases in exoplanet atmospheres, tentative evidence for extraterrestrial life is starting to come thick and fast. But when we've found it, how will we know for sure?

Features

Ken MacLeod

Video

Author Ken MacLeod on the life and work of the late Iain M. Banks

Video

3D6BBB4 Comet Lemmon photographed from northern Italy on 26th October 2025.

Space

Comets were on fire this year – for better or worse

Comment

Scientists inside a science base in the Moon conduct a variety of humorous experiments. We see a cat chasing after a giant laser beam; a scientist being eaten by a venus fly trap, a star falling through a Christmas tree as a scientist tries and fails to put it on top, a scientist going to a 'moonshine' bar, robots attending a seminar, a scientist trapping a human brain in a forcefield, and scientists stepping through portals. In the sky above the spaceship, Santa is being abducted by aliens.

Physics

Inside the wild experiments physicists would do with zero limits

Features

Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright

Space

Why we only recently discovered space is dark not bright

Features

We reveal our favourite 33 books, films, games and TV to escape with

Comment

We reveal our favourite 33 books, films, games and TV to escape with

Culture

Aurora Borealis dancing over Tromso Urban Skyline. Tromso Panorama and winter night landscape with Northern Lights (Aurora Polaris) on a cold night, with starry sky, polar lights and snowcapped mountains on Kvaloya Island in the background. Cityscape with Brightly Street Light of the Arctic Capital, Northern Norway

Earth

The audacious quest to light up the sky with artificial auroras

Features

The supernova remnant Cassiopeia A

Space

Odd elements in supernova blast might have implications for alien life

News

PARADISE - ???The Day??? - Sinatra and Xavier confront the past, returning to the harrowing day that brought them to Paradise. (Disney/Brian Roedel) JAMES MARSDEN, STERLING K. BROWN, KRYS MARSHALL

Comment

The six best science-fiction shows of 2025

Culture

TX DATE:21-07-2025,TX WEEK:29,EMBARGOED UNTIL:08-07-2025 00:00:00,DESCRIPTION:Dramatic reconstruction of early anatomically modern Homo sapiens living in Africa.,COPYRIGHT:BBC Studios,CREDIT LINE:BBC / BBC Studios

Comment

The four best science documentaries of 2025

From animal rivals to Jane Goodall's last thoughts, enjoy 2025's best science documentaries, says our TV columnist Bethan Ackerley

Culture

Comment

The two standout science-fiction films of 2025

Culture

Physics

Why quantum mechanics says the past isn’t real

Comment

Physics

Black hole entropy hints at a surprising truth about our universe

Features

Space

What would Russia's inability to launch crewed missions mean for ISS?

Analysis