Biologists on Earth continue to find exotic bacteria they call 'extremophiles' that can live under the most horrendous conditions...even buried in solid rock a mile below the surface.
Europa continues to look like a world with a liquid ocean under its icy crust...with the hope of some niches able to have started life chemistry as on Earth 4 billion years ago.
More planets are being detected on a monthly basis, and many of these now see to be in orbits in the zones where liquid water could exist.
All in all, the prospects for eventually finding life seem better now that they have been at any time in our history to date!