Are We Alone Out There?
Setup
For as long as humans have looked at the skies, we’ve speculated about whether there is life in space. Scientists, the U.S. military and the CIA have all searched for proof of extraterrestrials. What’s the latest in the quest to find life beyond our planet?
- 2024 Festival
Explore More
Society
![Francis Collins on Science and Faith](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/6bfedb4f-4e98-45ef-a03c-fdc78698e0d5/53811234024_81d87a8491_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=688%2C0%2C2600%2C3896&w=400)
Few people are more deeply steeped in science than Francis Collins, former director of the National Institutes of Health and the groundbreaking Human Genome Project, and forme...
![Closing the Climate Gap for Girls and Women](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7c58f9e1-944f-43e1-91a6-70ea591b4afe/53811270499_6a024c72b2_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C5278%2C2963&w=400)
Climate change is a threat multiplier with a disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. Girls and women, who are denied equitable access to education and economic oppo...
![Aspen Ideas: Health Closing Session](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/43030c8f-3f87-43e9-a2a1-f35ca0aab1c1/240623_closing_010.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C43%2C4000%2C2250&w=400)
Featuring inspiring conversations, the closing session is not to be missed. First, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and Jennifer Ashton of ABC News explore the loneliness epi...
![Will Psychedelics Go Mainstream?](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c84572ec-3894-4908-8d4f-19c487e7179a/53810485245_1fc8f7f548_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=0%2C72%2C4651%2C2618&w=400)
Scientific investigation is laser focused on psychedelics to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), ease end-of-life anxiety, and address mental health challenges, inclu...
![New Prescription for Trust](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/290bac42-f841-4530-b4d7-d1e32a03dc4d/53807869390_cfe6318fa0_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=600&q=80&rect=1334%2C0%2C2070%2C3101&w=400)
Although most Americans (83%) still trust their doctors to tell them the truth about health issues, fewer than half have faith in healthcare CEOs, government leaders, or journ...
![Promise and Perils of Artificial Intelligence](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/fbc621c4-2ba1-46ec-9e60-1956f8ba8c96/53807733969_1568b9912b_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=225&q=80&rect=11%2C0%2C8245%2C4640&w=400)
AI is transforming health, with implications for early disease detection, diagnostic accuracy, medical decision making, precision surgery, and personalized treatments. By spee...
![Great Ideas to Start 2024](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/97c2456a-67d1-4012-9c9e-0330615b1884/AIFStockHeroImages4.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=844%2C0%2C5064%2C3375&w=400)
Whether you love setting New Year’s resolutions or ignore them entirely, there’s still a certain mix of nostalgia and excitement over the ending of one year and the possibilit...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/90e66795-adc8-4154-8850-c3d62aaa97a5/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a7c51&q=80&rect=2168%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/90e66795-adc8-4154-8850-c3d62aaa97a5/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2168%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
Death is understandably difficult – and for some people, nearly impossible – to conceive of and talk about. Especially our own. It may seem like there’s nothing we can do to p...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 14](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e89240af-8351-4371-8f15-9a09b163cb14/AIFStockHeroImages14.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=b78045&q=80&rect=1335%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 14](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e89240af-8351-4371-8f15-9a09b163cb14/AIFStockHeroImages14.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1335%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
For years, Yale undergraduate students have lined up to take a wildly popular course called Life Worth Living. Bucking the highly competitive tone you might expect at an Ivy L...
![Women's History Month: Making Strides in a New Era](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/0710591f-3c84-4d87-90f3-6b2594a64305/35245686450_b873714d6d_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2671&w=400)
Global conflicts and health crises have put into stark relief deeply-ingrained gender roles in society. Yet the past years have also seen record-high numbers of women running...
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/bba3a4af-5d56-47f6-aa65-f5a1d7814f90/GettyImages-1607649951.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a7c51&q=80&rect=1223%2C0%2C4783%2C4783&w=400)
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/bba3a4af-5d56-47f6-aa65-f5a1d7814f90/GettyImages-1607649951.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1223%2C0%2C4783%2C4783&w=400)
After millennia of human existence, we’re still figuring out and talking constantly about one of our most fundamental behaviors – sex. Despite the sexual revolution of the 60s...
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/dc9cf894-578f-427a-9689-2e2cc155874f/GettyImages-1409614706.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=2000%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
![stock hero](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/dc9cf894-578f-427a-9689-2e2cc155874f/GettyImages-1409614706.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2000%2C0%2C4480%2C4480&w=400)
Teenagers and young adults today are dealing with challenges their parents never experienced and couldn’t have prepared for. Nobody has a map and the road to resolution can be...
![The World that MLK Built](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/null5fa38e00-de88-4024-88ca-2726f94d1b4b/35203837080_c6abf3a777_o.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=688%2C531%2C5074%2C3386&w=400)
The unflinching humanity and morality that Martin Luther King, Jr. embodied is part of what makes his legacy so lasting. In addition to his preeminent civil rights work, he sp...
![Adobestock 171820542](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullc24417d4-7a62-488f-906c-1b5c90484b20/AdobeStock_171820542.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=0a80bc&q=80&rect=353%2C0%2C3301%2C3301&w=400)
![Adobestock 171820542](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/nullc24417d4-7a62-488f-906c-1b5c90484b20/AdobeStock_171820542.jpeg?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=353%2C0%2C3301%2C3301&w=400)
Living a happy life isn’t as simple as having a smile on your face all the time. We often think that our negative emotions should be minimized and repressed, but acknowledging...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9f957cc6-734e-418f-a32e-7ac18bbaa621/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ab287a&q=80&rect=2532%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 3](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/9f957cc6-734e-418f-a32e-7ac18bbaa621/AIFStockHeroImages3.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=2532%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
The human capacity for empathy allows us to communicate, collaborate and understand each other. But we all know empathy isn’t always easy, and we can feel worn down by the eff...
![Aif Stock Hero Images](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8b5bdee1-fd5d-4ab3-ad60-6dde999bc1c5/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=8a5f4e&q=80&rect=105%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/8b5bdee1-fd5d-4ab3-ad60-6dde999bc1c5/AIFStockHeroImages.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=105%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
When Duke divinity school professor Kate Bowler wrote her best-selling memoir, “Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved),” she was grappling with the conseq...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 7](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7bb8ed4e-a78f-44a7-8740-2903ebdc4134/AIFStockHeroImages7.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=7d247d&q=80&rect=1940%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 7](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/7bb8ed4e-a78f-44a7-8740-2903ebdc4134/AIFStockHeroImages7.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=1940%2C0%2C3377%2C3375&w=400)
For adults, the pressure to drink at social engagements, work events, restaurants or almost anywhere outside the home can feel constant. Recent research has found that “no amo...
![Aif Stock Hero Images 6](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c6deda33-b0e7-4722-94ee-60a3266ea36a/AIFStockHeroImages6.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&mono=ac473e&q=80&rect=844%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
![Aif Stock Hero Images 6](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/c6deda33-b0e7-4722-94ee-60a3266ea36a/AIFStockHeroImages6.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=400&q=80&rect=844%2C0%2C3376%2C3375&w=400)
In today’s world, we tend to switch jobs more frequently than previous generations, and are more likely to have multiple jobs. Side gigs where we express passions or find mean...
![How to Thrive](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/f1c0ba14-a31d-4b2a-810a-3d86378c40d2/Screenshot2023-10-11at9.54.28AM.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=20%2C0%2C965%2C644&w=400)
Finding ways to ground ourselves on a planet too often in turmoil can foster the resilience we need to function at our best. By maintaining close personal ties, learning new s...
![Life Well Lived](https://aspenideasfestival.imgix.net/e89240af-8351-4371-8f15-9a09b163cb14/AIFStockHeroImages14.png?auto=compress%2Cformat&fit=min&fm=jpg&h=267&q=80&rect=935%2C0%2C5065%2C3375&w=400)
Philosophers throughout history have debated what it means to live a good life, and it remains an ongoing and unresolved question. Deep personal relationships, fulfilling work...