Of the more 6,000 planets that have so far been discovered, most are deeply unsuited to life – at least life of the forms we are familiar with or can plausibly imagine. A substantial minority look like they might be able to support something limited, a planet of bacteria or slime molds. A handful hold prospects of being quite Earth-like, although in every case there are some big unknowns that might ruin the whole thing. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

However, a few of the scientists taking part in the search for worlds that could support life have bigger dreams. They’ve created the concept of “superhabitable planets”, those that are, or at least might be, more suited to life than Earth is. Given we know Earth is very c

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