The first unmistakable signal from another intelligence would rank alongside fire and writing in the story of our species, ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

For decades, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence has focused on subtle whispers in the cosmic noise, the faint, ...

In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that finding—which won the scientists a portion of the 2019 Nobel Prize in ...

In 1950, famed astrophysicist Enrico Fermi posed a profound question during a casual lunch with colleagues: Where is everybody? In other words, if there’s an extremely high probability that advanced ...

The Fermi Paradox ponders an endlessly fascinating question: If so many worlds exist in the universe, why haven’t we detected any sign of extraterrestrial life? A possible reason, called the ...

In 1995, a pair of scientists discovered a planet outside our solar system orbiting a solar-type star. Since that finding—which won the scientists a portion of the 2019 Nobel Prize in ...

Complex, intelligent life in the galaxy appears vanishingly rare, with the nearest possible civilization perhaps 33,000 light-years distant. Yet despite the odds, scientists insist that continuing the ...

The Drake Equation helps scientists estimate the odds of finding intelligent alien civilizations. It’s an age-old question: Do aliens exist? And what are the odds we’ll make contact? A famous ...

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Reinventing SETI: New Directions in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, published by Oxford University Press in August 2025. John Gertz is the ...

The burning of fossil fuels — coal, oil and gas — propelled humanity into the industrial revolution, remaking civilization in its wake. Gasoline powers many of the cars we drive; coal and natural gas ...