We’ve been looking for extraterrestrial intelligence for over 60 years. What have we learned?

From discovering the first planets beyond our solar system to future plans for analyzing the atmospheres of these distant bodies, NASA and the European Space Agency have guided our search for habitable worlds beyond Earth.

What practical steps can you take to extend your health span and achieve a longer, healthier life, regardless of your age?

Though the care we receive at the hospital can mean the difference between life and death, medical errors causing harm are more common than most of us imagine.

A holistic rather than a mechanistic view of human beings suggests that we are more than the sum of our parts.

Using the supposed objectivity of DNA to establish human hierarchy may be the dream of eugenicists, but for Kathryn Paige Harden, the goal of having and using genetic information is exactly the opposite.

If we’re all 99.9 percent the same genetically, does DNA have any impact on our chances of success in life?

Science and religion each have a range of explanations for how life came to exist on Earth. On the scientific side, can a theory called panspermia upstage its Darwinian counterpart?

The global scourge of discarded plastic—from macro- to microscopic—is finally starting to get the attention it deserves.

The idea of matter as the basis of everything may seem beyond question. But a solely material view of the world doesn’t fill the enduring human need to understand why we’re here and what it all signifies.

Millions of people now use assisted reproductive technologies to have children. How will IVF and embryo screening affect the future of family and society?

Medical doctor Robert Klitzman talks about our increasing ability to design babies to our personal specifications.

Researchers and policy makers around the world struggle to lead human germ-line editing into the future.

In vitro fertilization has opened the path to a new era of reproductive interventions. How did we arrive at a point where we could soon be creating designer babies?

Stanford neuroscientist William B. Hurlbut talks about his dealings with the Chinese researcher who created the world’s first gene-edited babies, and about the implications of that experiment.

In the face of new technology allowing scientists to manipulate genes in human embryos, how will we move forward?

Historian Lisa Vox argues for finding a way to address the threats that face us all. It starts, she says, with not condemning others for holding a different worldview.

Technology gives us access to the universe while at the same time creating risks to our continued existence. Does humankind’s best hope for long-term survival come down to leaving Earth behind?

The chief engineer for NASA’s robotic Mars Exploration Program talks about what it would take to put people on the Red Planet. Will Mars be humanity’s lifeboat?

Mexico City is one of the world’s biggest population centers, yet the city’s infrastructure is extremely unstable. The resulting challenges serve as a warning—and a lesson—to the rest of our urbanizing world.