To Learn How Aliens Think, We Must First Learn About Their Biology

Should E.T. finally give Earth a ring, it's not only important to understand what the message says but why it is being sent, a speaker at a talk about extraterrestrials urged this week. This requires understanding about alien social behavior, which, one analyst argues, is an extension of alien biology. » 10/05/14 9:30am 10/05/14 9:30am

NASA Has Released A Free eBook About Communicating With Aliens

Titled Archaeology, Anthropology and Interstellar Communication and edited by SETI Director of Interstellar Message Composition Douglas Vakoch, the document draws on "issues at the core of contemporary archaeology and anthropology" to prepare us "for contact with an extraterrestrial civilization, should that day ever… » 5/24/14 5:00pm 5/24/14 5:00pm

A New Scientific Model that Defines Alien Intelligence

Should we ever detect an extraterrestrial civilization, or any kind of alien life for that matter, it's a safe bet they'll look very different from us. They'll also probably think in a way that's completely foreign to what we're used to. Here's how experts believe we might be able to predict what the minds of aliens… » 1/28/14 11:14am 1/28/14 11:14am

Congress Just Held a Remarkable Two-Hour Hearing on Aliens


When did we start believing in Martians? Why did we stop?

Today, we have rovers busily studying the surface of Mars, but 100 years ago, it wasn't uncommon for people to believe that intelligent Martians occupied the Red Planet, and 100 years before that, visions of Moon dwellers danced in many people's heads. Where did these ideas of nearby intelligent extraterrestrials come… » 9/08/13 8:30am 9/08/13 8:30am

Anthropologists explain how to approach aliens parked in Earth orbit

It happens all the time in science fiction stories: aliens park their vessels in Earth orbit, and things go pear-shaped. But what if this scenario unfolded in real life? What would be the best thing for us to do? We asked several anthropologists the best way to go about communicating with truly unknown life forms. » 4/22/13 5:19pm 4/22/13 5:19pm

How science fictional will AMC's 1950s drama Area 51 be?

With AMC dropping its mystery drama The Killing and Breaking Bad wrapping at the end of this season, the cable channel is looking for a new television hit. It looks like they're putting their money on Walking Dead executive producer Gale Anne Hurd and Area 51, a series about the mysterious military base set in the… » 7/28/12 2:00pm 7/28/12 2:00pm

Is SETI at risk of downloading a malicious virus from outer space?

We take it for granted that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a safe endeavor. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong with passively searching for interstellar radio signals? Unfortunately, the answer is quite a lot –- especially if the incoming signal contains something malicious, like a… » 6/27/12 2:39pm 6/27/12 2:39pm

Meet SETI's new boss: Geoff Marcy, the planet hunter

Geoff Marcy has spent the better part of his career peering into the depths of space in the search for exoplanets and brown dwarfs. His pioneering work has resulted in the discovery of over 110 planets outside of our own solar system - including the first system of planets orbiting a distant star. But now, Marcy has… » 6/08/12 7:10am 6/08/12 7:10am

How to get it on with an Alien: A Beginner's Guide

Valentine's day is coming up, which means it's time to get romantic with your alien loved one. But how exactly do you do the deed with someone whose DNA comes from the other side of the galaxy? How do you negotiate differing erogenous zones and the possibility that your lover may want to eat you after the act? Read… » 2/12/12 9:00am 2/12/12 9:00am

Evidence of extraterrestrial life could be sitting on the Moon at this…

When you consider the utter vastness of space, it isn't hard to accept that, somewhere out there, extraterrestrial life probably exists. That being said, one can just as soon reason that the Universe is so immense, the odds of us actually finding evidence for the existence of alien organisms are probably pretty slim.… » 12/28/11 7:00am 12/28/11 7:00am

Why Silicon-based Aliens Would Rather Eat Our Cities Than Us

What would non-carbon-based life really be like? What would it want from us? Bruce Dorminey, science journalist and author of "Distant Wanderers: The Search for Planets Beyond the Solar System," interviews NASA astrochemist Max Bernstein about the possibility of silicon-based life, in an article from Universe Today. » 12/05/11 2:30pm 12/05/11 2:30pm