Using a new machine-learning algorithm, scientists have picked up eight extraterrestrial signals that seem to bear the hallmarks of technology. The research, published Jan. 30 in the journal Nature Astronomy, doesn’t claim to have really found proof of intelligent aliens; a brief follow-up search for the signals detected in the study turned up only silence. … Read more
Scientists have proposed another use for the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory: scanning for the ripples in space-time left in the wake of gargantuan alien spaceships. Gravitational waves ripple out when objects with mass move through space. Bigger objects — such as planets, neutron stars or black holes — produce more prominent gravitational waves. These … Read more
One of the world’s largest telescopes has just joined the hunt for signs of alien life elsewhere in the cosmos. Since 2016, the Breakthrough Listen project has been quietly using radio telescopes to listen for unusual radio signals, or technosignatures, from potential advanced extraterrestrial civilizations within the Milky Way. The project, launched in part by … Read more
Researchers may have pinpointed the source of a famous supposed alien broadcast discovered nearly a half century ago. The prominent and still-mysterious Wow! Signal, which briefly blared in a radio telescope the night of Aug. 15, 1977, may have come from a sun-like star located 1,800 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. “The Wow! Signal … Read more
Scientists have crafted a new message for any intelligent extraterrestrials who might be out there. And they want feedback on whether they should send it. The technology needed to send the message is not yet ready. And if and when the note is transmitted, it would take thousands of years for it to reach its … Read more
Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? It’s a question that has been debated for centuries, if not millennia. But it is only recently that we’ve had an actual chance of finding out, with initiatives such as (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) using radio telescopes to actively listen for radio messages from alien civilizations. What … Read more
