Researchers present an alternative to the long-held “hard steps” theory to explain the evolution of complex life, suggesting it’s the natural outcome of a habitable environment rather than a lucky bre

For decades, scientists assumed that life on Earth emerged through a chain of highly improbable flukes. But a new theory suggests it may have instead arrived just in time.

According to an alternative model of how intelligent life emerges on planets like Earth, the existence of aliens—and human beings–could be the result of natural planetary processes.

Intelligent life in the Universe could be far more widespread than previously imagined. A new study has just shaken up a well-known theory, the "hard steps" theory, by explaining that the

Scientists challenge the idea that intelligent life is rare. They argue that evolution follows planetary changes, not random luck.

Roughly 300,000 years ago, our species first appeared on the African landscape before spreading globally and coming to dominate the planet. All this happened about 4.5 billion years after Earth formed,

A new study proposes intelligent life is more likely to emerge than previously thought, driven by planetary conditions.

“Our existence is probably not an evolutionary fluke,” says Jennifer Macalady, a study co-author and microbiology professor at Pennsylvania State University. “We’re an expected or predictable outcome of our planet’s evolution, just as any other intelligent life out there will be.”