Astrobiology

Extraterrestrial life is a common theme in science fiction, but is it a serious prospect in the real world? Astrobiology is the emerging field of science that seeks to answer this question. The possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos is one of the most profound subjects that human beings can ponder. Astrophysicist Andrew May gives an expert overview of our current state of knowledge, looking at how life started on Earth, the tell-tale `signatures` it produces, and how such signatures might be detected elsewhere in the Solar System or on the many `exoplanets` now being discovered by the Kepler and TESS missions.