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Life is durable and Earth-like planets aren’t rare. So where are all the aliens?
Potentially habitable planets are more plentiful then we once thought: there are trillions in the Universe, and an estimated million in the Milky Way alone. Looking inward at our own small life-sustaining planet, we’ve also discovered that life isn’t nearly as delicate as we had imaged: lifeforms exist buried in the Earth’s crust and deep underwater, in extreme heat and extreme cold. So why, in every search for intelligent life elsewhere in the Universe, have we come up so utterly empty?
Video by Kurzgesagt
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes
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Astronomy
The history of astronomy is a history of conjuring intelligent life where it isn’t
34 minutes
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
4 minutes
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
13 minutes
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Engineering
A close-up look at electronic paper reveals its exquisite patterns – and limitations
9 minutes
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Cognition and intelligence
What’s this buzz about bees having culture? Inside a groundbreaking experiment
8 minutes
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Earth science and climate
The only man permitted in Bhutan’s sacred mountains chronicles humanity’s impact
22 minutes
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Cosmology
The Indian astronomer whose innovative work on black holes was mocked at Cambridge
13 minutes
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Astronomy
Seven years later, what can we make of our first confirmed interstellar visitor?
59 minutes