Do aliens exist? We studied what scientists really think

By Peter Vickers, Professor in Philosophy of Science, Durham University
Henry Taylor, Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham
Sean McMahon, Reader in Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh

News stories about the likely existence of extraterrestrial life, and our chances of detecting it, tend to be positive. We are often told that we might discover it any time now. Finding life beyond Earth is “only a matter of time”, we were told in September 2023. “We are close” was a headline from September 2024.

It’s easy to see why. Headlines such as “We’re probably not close” or “Nobody knows” aren’t very clickable.…

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