Don't get excited about reports of 'habitable planets'

Someday, we may discover proof that another Earth is out there. But that day has not yet arrived

In 1950, physicist Enrico Fermi famously asked, “Where are they?” as a kind of lament about the lack of observational evidence for alien intelligence in our universe. Today, the question is still asked in the context of the always-hoped-for discovery of other worlds like our own, with the thought that maybe, just maybe, we will finally find those aliens.

Against this backdrop, advances that have occurred in the past 20 years in the field of exoplanet discovery have excited the imaginations of scientists and enthusiasts alike.

When, the question goes, will we finally discover a planet that can sustain