Out of this world – and into the next

Humanity has always looked up at the night sky and wondered what lies beyond our world. Now, we are on the precipice of stepping out among the stars, not just as lone astronauts or billionaire tech bros, but as a civilization. Our story is one of curiosity and an innate desire to explore and understand not only the world around us, but the world within us, and the worlds above us, from extremophiles to extraterrestrials, technosignatures to terraforming, DNA to Dyson Spheres. In this sweeping treatise on exploration, innovation and human ingenuity, theoretical physicist Adriana Marais explores the questions that stand at the heart of scientific endeavour: What are the building blocks of life and how does life emerge? Are we alone in the universe and if so, why? How did we get here – and where are we going next?