Wild Thing: Is There Anybody Out There? The Search for Extraterrestrial Life, from Amoebas to Aliens

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

Inspired by her popular Wild Thing podcast, journalist Laura Krantz incorporates the scientific method and her journalistic skills to determine if aliens might exist.

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. 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.

Is There Anybody Out There? turns our collective gaze skyward: What’s the likelihood of life on other planets? Or that aliens have already made the trip to visit us? How would they get here? Why do we want to find them? And what does it mean if we do (or don’t)? Teaching readers to challenge their gut assumptions and open their minds to new possibilities by using critical thinking and the scientific method, journalist Laura Krantz investigates the science, culture, and philosophy of a universe in which we’re not alone—and why the idea of alien life has abducted our imaginations.

Includes Color Illustrations and Features Photographs from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

About the Author

Laura Krantz is a print and audio journalist whose critically acclaimed podcast Wild Thing explores the intersection between science and society. She spent ten years as an editor and producer with NPR in Washington, DC, and KPCC in Los Angeles, and her work has appeared in Smithsonian, Outside, and Popular Science. An Idaho native, Krantz received her BA from Whitman College and her MA from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. She lives in Denver with her husband, New York Times bestselling author Scott Carney, and their two cats.