Aliens: Real or Imagined?

From historical myths and legends to fanciful science-fiction tales of little green men and the uncertain possibility of life beyond our planet, Aliens have been a pop-culture phenomenon for centuries now, being portrayed as both harmless curious visitors to threatening monsters with aspirations to take over our planet.

An alien is technically defined as anything foreign, or something that doesn’t belong in any given place or within any given group. In this case, aliens have come to be defined as theoretical beings, especially those of significant intelligence, that are of extraterrestrial origin (not coming from earth). The acknowledged study of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology or xenobiology.

Most scientists agree that if Aliens, or extraterrestrial life, does in fact exist, its evolution would have occurred independently at different times and in different places throughout the universe. Others hypothesize that all life in the universe could have culminated in one original location, then spread from planet to planet. While no proof for extraterrestrial life has ever been found, mysterious events such as the Roswell, New Mexico incident in July of 1947 have continued to fuel speculation and countless stories and ideas as to whether or not alien life forms beyond the planet Earth really exist.

Learn more alien information and gain insight into the possibility of extraterrestrial life beyond our planet by clicking on any article or other interactive feature below.