An Astrophysicist on Why We Haven’t Heard From Extraterrestrials, Yet

In a recent paper penned by Amri Wandel, the astrophysicist aims to explain why extraterrestrials still haven’t made contact with us here on Earth. Wandel dives into numbers to illustrate “the size and scale of the universe as we understand it today, the probability that life exists on other worlds” and more. Essentially the Great Silence—as it’s known to SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute)—comes …

Link About It: This Week’s Picks

Fossilized worm brains, cranberry packaging, the wet history of Mars and more inspiration from nature

World’s Oldest Fossilized Brain Discovered A 525-million-year-old fossil of an extinct worm-like animal known as the Cardiodictyon catenulum was first discovered in China in 1984, but only recently have scientists found that the barely half-an-inch animal has a brain. Using a technique called “chromatic filtering,” scientists were able to reveal the animal’s nervous system and brain in an unsegmented head. Not only is this finding …

Two Astronomers Discuss Technosignatures in The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Macy Huston, a PhD candidate in astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State, and Jason Wright, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the university, have penned a thought-provoking essay on technosignatures—or the signs of alien technology that could lead to discovery. Both work on SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and have addressed everything from radio waves to megastructures developed by advanced civilizations that harness …