Is There Anybody Out There? The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens - Laura Krantz

How likely is it that humans aren't alone in the universe?

Reports of strange lights, UFO sightings, and alien encounters abound-and some (like recent accounts from US Navy pilots) even sound credible. And in recent years, armed with state-of-the-art technology and better information, the search for extraterrestrials overflows with exciting possibilities. Within our own solar system, astrobiologists search for the biochemical building blocks that might sustain microbes, astronomers discover far-flung stars, orbited by planets that could be teeming with life, and astrophysicists point sophisticated telescopes toward the deep reaches of the universe, looking for anything out of the ordinary.