Last week, scientists announced the discovery of Kepler-186f, a planet 492 light years away in the Cygnus constellation.Kepler-186f is special because it marks the first planet almost exactly the same size as Earth orbiting in the ‘habitable zone’ – the distance from a star in which we might expect liquid water, and perhaps life.What did not make the news, however, is that this discovery also slightly increases how much credence we give to the possibility of imminent human extinction.

read more: Could our search for alien life trigger the end of humanity? | Mail Online.