Paleontologists who study earth’s ancient fossil record might not seem to be the obvious choice when asking about the prevalence of intelligent life in the cosmos. But paleontology, the study of ...

A persistent cultural stereotype of scientists is that we are out to dominate and exploit the natural world that we study. In Life on a Young Planet, distinguished paleontologist Andrew Knoll wants to ...

"This is the story of Earth like you’ve never seen it before—from the first spark of life to prehistoric monsters to the rise of humans… and all the weird stuff in between." We live on a magnificently ...

Some of the greatest evolutionary biologists of the 20th century famously dismissed the prospect of humanlike intelligence beyond Earth. Elen11 Elen11/Getty Editor’s note: The Focus on Research column ...

Life made the modern Earth as much as the Earth made life, a new book by a philosopher of consciousness argues. That dynamic leaves humans with a unique set of moral questions, Peter Godfrey-Smith of ...

NPR's Juana Summers talks with Regina Barber and Jessica Yung of Short Wave about carnivorous squirrels, the history of life on Earth, and new insights into the relationship between people and dogs.

Daniel Brady Mills receives funding from the German Research Foundation. Jason Wright works for Penn State University, where his research in the search for life in the universe is supported by ...