Extraterrestrial life (from the Latin
words: extra ["beyond", or "not of"] and terrestris
["of or belonging to Earth"]) is defined as life that does not
originate from Earth. It is often also referred to as alien life, or simply
aliens (or space aliens, to differentiate from other definitions of alien
or aliens).
These hypothetical forms of life range
from simple bacteria-like organisms to beings far more complex than
humans. The development and testing of hypotheses on extraterrestrial life
is known as exobiology or astrobiology; the term astrobiology, however,
includes the study of life on Earth viewed in its astronomical context. Many
scientists consider extraterrestrial life to be plausible, but there is no
conclusive evidence for its existence. Since the mid-20th century, there has
been an ongoing search for signs of extraterrestrial life, from radios used to
detect possible extraterrestrial signals, to telescopes used to search for
potentially habitable extrasolar planets. It has also played a major role in
works of science fiction.
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