Tag: extraterrestrials

The “Wow!” Signal Was Likely From An Extraterrestrial Source, And More Powerful Than We Thought

Anew study has re-examined the famous “Wow!” signal, finding that it likely has an extraterrestrial origin after all, and may have been even more intense than previously believed.

On August 15, 1977, at the Big Ear radio telescope observatory at Ohio State University, a narrowband radio signal was received. A few days later, astronomer Jerry Ehman reviewed the data and noticed the signal sequence, which lasted for a full 72 seconds. In the margin next to the printout, he simply wrote “Wow!”, and thus the puzzling signal had a name that would stick for the next 43 years at least.

The signal has, so far, defied explanation, and that’s not for a lack of trying. Researchers argued the case for it being a comet passing through the area Big Ear was listening to, only for that to be completely refuted about two days later by the team that detected the Wow! signal in the first place, as a comet would have produced a diffuse signal given the large area they cover, rather than the abruptly cut-off signal that was received.

The signal has been a source of speculation in the “aliens are out there” community, and not without reason. No other signal like it has been detected before or since. It was in a range of frequencies close to the hydrogen line, which is relatively free from background noise, making it a good range to pick were we to try and communicate with other civilizations ourselves. On top of that, the team themselves believed it to be a good candidate for extraterrestrial life.

Keep reading

Rethinking the Search for Extraterrestrial Life: Scientists Urge Broader Search as Exoplanet Discoveries Multiply

The search for extraterrestrial life may be operating within overly narrow parameters, as powerful tools like the James Webb Space Telescope offer new opportunities to detect more exotic biosignature gases from lifeforms thriving in conditions vastly different from those on Earth, according to new research.

MIT Professor of Physics Sara Seager led the study, which reviews the variety of gases and extreme environments that could theoretically host life in forms unlike anything found on Earth. Rather than focusing solely on Earth analogs, the study urges astrobiologists to expand the scope of their search. With over two decades of exoplanet discoveries, scientists now have a broad range of targets in the search for life — if they widen their approach.

The Direct Approach

Where earlier efforts to find extraterrestrial life, such as SETI, largely waited for signals from other advanced civilizations, modern scientists are using the James Webb Space Telescope to actively search for biosignatures produced by even the simplest life forms on distant exoplanets.

While this method is innovative in some respects, astronomers have primarily focused on Earth-like planets, which, as real-world exoplanet research shows, are less common than once speculated. By broadening their definitions of life, researchers hope to avoid overlooking potentially habitable worlds among the thousands of exoplanets identified so far.

Extremophiles and Bacteria Demonstrate Life’s Resilience

As with much exobiology research, the team began by examining the only known life-hosting planet: Earth. Some organisms here are remarkably resilient, thriving in conditions that would be lethal to others. Among the most notable are bacteria and extremophiles; tiny organisms capable of enduring Earth’s harshest environments.

Bacteria, in particular, offer hope for expanding the range of gases that might indicate life. Studies on Earth have shown that these small life forms can survive and even thrive in gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and helium. Such findings suggest that life could exist under conditions far different from those on our planet.

Extremophiles likewise challenge traditional concepts of habitability. A notable example is the tardigrade, or “water bear.” These tiny half-millimeter creatures have been observed withstanding radiation, extreme temperatures and pressures, starvation, and even direct exposure to outer space.

New Places to Look for Extraterrestrial Life

The team proposes two major avenues for reconsidering where to search for alien life, first by investigating gas planets for life forms that could exist in thick atmospheres high above their searing hot rock cores. This concept, known as a “cloud biosphere,” suggests that sub-Neptunes with permanent water clouds could theoretically support life.

Researchers point to work dating back to the 1970s, which hypothesized that chemical reactions in such environments might give rise to life. One challenge is that life requires metal ions for catalytic reactions, meaning that without contact with a planetary surface, organisms would have to rely on meteors delivering these essential ingredients.

The second avenue moves beyond just water, considering other solvents that could form life-supporting oceans for creatures very different from Earth’s. Some terrestrial organisms live in highly acidic environments, and laboratory studies have shown that even concentrated sulfuric acid can sustain organic chemistry. This opens up the possibility that conditions more acidic than any on Earth, such as the sulfuric acid clouds of Venus, could support life.

Keep reading

Forget Radio Telescopes—Aliens Could Be Using Gravitational Waves to Communicate

One of the most exciting breakthroughs in astronomy over the past decade was the detection of gravitational waves. Since the days of Galileo Galilei, astronomy was about the detection of electromagnetic signals with telescopes. As it turns out, the main constituents of the Universe are not observable in that way.

Our current data indicates that 85% of the matter in the Universe is invisible electromagnetically, constituting dark matter. In addition, 70% of the energy budget of the Universe is dark energy. Cosmologists infer these constituents because they affect visible matter gravitationally. Can we build a detector of near-Earth objects that would sense the gravitational signal of passing dark objects?

If dark matter is made of asteroid-mass objects, like primordial black holes, our telescopes would not notice them even when they pass near Earth. In a recent paper, I showed that the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA gravitational wave observatories could detect a dark object if it moves close to the speed of light and its mass is larger than a hundred million tons. Such an object would cross the radius of the Earth within two hundredths of a second and produce a gravitational tidal signal in the frequency band of LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA. Needless to say, no such object was detected so far.

Within a decade, the LISA space observatory will expand gravitational wave detection to the frequency range between milli- and micro-Hertz and a smaller spacetime strain. This will usher in a new era of sensitivity to dark near-Earth objects in the asteroid mass range. It could also open the door to the detection of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) gravitationally, which the Galileo Project observatories are attempting to detect electromagnetically. Pulsar Timing Arrays(PTAs) probe a frequency range of a few nano-Hertz, but so-far they were only sensitive to the cumulative gravitational wave background at these frequencies – which constitute the noise floor for the detection of individual sources.

Gravitational wave detectors are the most exciting telescopes of the next millennium as they will open the door for detecting objects that we had never noticed before. As I showed in another recent paper, it is impossible to block or dissipate gravitational wave signals. They offer the optimal communication method, detectable through Earth or the Sun.

It is conceivable that extraterrestrial technological civilizations communicate in gravitational signals, and our failure to notice them so far is because traditional SETI relied on seeking electromagnetic signals with traditional telescopes. If so, the silence that triggered Fermi’s question: “Where is everybody?” stems from our blindness to gravitational signals at the appropriate frequency.

Aliens would choose a communication channel that does not interfere with the frequencies of the loudest natural sources of gravitational waves in the cosmos. These are black hole binaries of stellar mass – to which LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA is tuned, as well as supermassive black hole pairs – to which LISA and PTAs are tuned. In that case, gravitational-SETI will need to develop sensitivity in other frequency bands.

The main challenge in producing detectable gravitational signals is the requirement to move large masses at high speeds. To within an order of magnitude, the gravitational wave strain is of order the gravitational potential produced by the transmitter divided by the speed of light squared times the square of the characteristic speed by which its mass moves in units of the speed of light. For context, the gravitational wave strain produced by the nearest stellar binary, Alpha-Centauri A & B – as the two stars orbit each other every 80 years, is only of order 10^{-24} and extremely challenging to detect.

Five years ago, a team led by Marek Abramowicz published a paper on the possibility that an advanced technological civilization harvests energy from the supermassive (4 million solar-mass) black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way and uses it for communication. They found that a Jupiter-mass structure in the innermost stable circular orbit around the black hole would emit an unambiguous gravitational wave signal that could be observed by LISA.

Keep reading

Experts dissecting ‘alien mummies’ from Peru make bizarre discovery — as legitimacy questions swirl

Experts have begun dissecting humanoid, three-fingered “alien mummies” found in Peru last year — uncovering what they say could be a metallic “alien implant” wedged onto the specimen’s hand, according to a report.

Dr. Jose Zalce Benitez, a Mexican Navy forensic doctor, removed the “light metal” implant from the specimen, referred to as the “Nazca Tridactyls” after the Peru region where they were believed to have been taken from, according to the Daily Mail.

Video shows the physician removing the apparent implant from the mummified three-fingered hand, revealing two of its metacarpal, or palm bones.

“It is a very complex metal alloy that requires special knowledge and techniques to be able to achieve it with such quality and purity,” Dr. Zalce told the outlet.

The expert said he identified elements including aluminum, tin, silver, copper, cadmium, and osmium in the metal implant.

“This tridactyl hand, from which I obtained the metal, does not belong to any of the bodies presented at the Mexican Congress,” Dr. Zalce told the outlet.

Keep reading

Fears ‘imminent alien announcement’ could contain truth ‘too terrible to be told’

Ever since an explosive report in 2017 peeled back the curtain on the US Government’s secret UFO research program, talk of alien visitors has steadily transitioned from fringe conspiracy theories to mainstream discussion. Recent developments have only fueled the fire; military experts have sworn before Congress that the Pentagon ran a “multi-decade” initiative aimed at retrieving and deconstructing extraterrestrial wreckage.

Despite mounting evidence and talk of a “non-human technological signature” captured by an Australian space telescope, we remain no closer to an official government acknowledgment of alien encounters. Nick Pope – who used to handle UFO sightings for the UK’s Ministry of Defence – has a chilling hypothesis about this continuous secrecy.

In a private communication with Simon Holland, revealed through a Reddit leak and verified by the Mirror, Pope aired his disturbing thoughts. Simon recently hit headlines around the world by alleging that an Oxford-affiliated satellite project has uncovered proof of extraterrestrial life – a discovery he hinted could align with the US election on November 5.

Keep reading

King Charles urged to ‘address the nation’ about alien life

King Charles has been urged to address the nation to “put fears at rest” if evidence is published that confirms life outside of Earth.

British academic Professor Simon Holland, who has collaborated with NASA on various projects, recently suggested scientists from Mark Zuckerberg’s Breakthrough Listen group were analysing data and preparing to make an announcement of having found evidence of “non-human extraterrestrial intelligence” in the Galaxy, and so ‘The King Of UFOs’ filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee has called on the monarch to take swift action if any official statement is made.

He said: “We are literally weeks away from the biggest discovery ever. If we have evidence to an intelligent advanced civilisation in our galaxy then we are no longer alone, contact may be made and then there will be important issues to be faced.

“With the Presidential election in the US the world’s leading superpower may be too distracted to deal with this properly. I urge our King and our prime minister Keir Starmer to step forward and help humanity deal with this profound moment.

“King Charles is an important figure in the world, he is a unifying figure one that wants to be defender of all faiths. Should we make contact with another civilisation in our galaxy it will raise important spiritual and philosophical questions.

“The King will have to address the nation in a King’s speech to put our fears at rest and to reassure his citizens.”

Keep reading

Academic teases announcement about discovery of alien life

Two groups of rival astronomers are allegedly vying to publish confirmed evidence of an intelligent alien civilization.Various news outlets this week have picked up on the story that British academic Professor Simon Holland is claiming that an announcement about intelligent alien life is imminent.

Holland, who has previously produced documentaries for NASA-funded projects, claims to have received a tip-off from an insider with the Breakthrough Listen project – an alternative to SETI that aims to scour the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial communications.

“We have found a non-human extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy, and people don’t know about it,” Holland told The Mirror. “They found the evidence of a non-human technological signature a few years ago, using the Parkes telescope in Australia.”

Holland maintains that a second group of astronomers in China have also discovered the same evidence and that there is now some sort of race behind the scenes to publish the information.

“This is breaking news, as of yesterday, but the Chinese might be pipping them to the post, with their, FAST [Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope] program,” he said.

“It’s the largest telescope in the world since Arecibo.”

Keep reading

NASA Denies Existence of Classified Briefings on James Webb Telescope Discoveries

In recent weeks, rumors spread rapidly on social media suggesting that NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) had made an extraordinary discovery—potentially alien life—and that members of Congress had been briefed about it.

The rumors intensified after U.S. Representative Andre Carson, who had previously chaired a congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs), declined to answer a question about classified briefings when asked by @AskaPol_UAPs run by journalist Matt Laslo on X.

The speculation prompted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, filed by The Black Vault on September 22, 2024, seeking any records—classified or unclassified—about JWST briefings provided to Congress, particularly related to the telescope’s findings. The request aimed to clarify whether any congressional briefings had been held about significant discoveries made by JWST, which has been in operation since 2021.

Keep reading

Alien Visitation Beliefs Are “Spiraling Out of Control,” Becoming a Societal Problem, Warns Prominent Philosopher

The topic of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and the possibility that some form of alien or non-human intelligence is visiting Earth has captured immense public interest in recent years.

However, in a thought-provoking paper accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union, Scottish philosopher, and professor at King’s College London, Dr. Tony Milligan, argues that this increased belief in alien visitation is fast becoming a widespread societal issue, posing challenges to science communication, government policy, and even cultural integrity. 

In his forthcoming paper, Equivocal Encounters: Alien Visitation Claims as a Societal Problem, Dr. Milligan suggests the rise of social media and the increasing influence of UAP claims in public and political discourse demands a more robust response than the periodic debunking efforts traditionally employed by the scientific community.

“This belief is slightly paradoxical as we have zero evidence that aliens even exist,” Dr. Milligan wrote in an article published by The Conversation. “If beliefs of this sort, in conspiracy, concealment, and collaboration, have made it into the mainstream, then periodic debunking has simply not worked.” 

Dr. Milligan contends that the alien visitation narrative, once confined to countercultural fringes and conspiracy theorists, is now making serious inroads into the political mainstream. 

In the past year, the belief in alien visitation has only intensified, largely fueled by several former government officials who have claimed that the U.S. government has secretly recovered crashed vehicles of non-human origin.

In 2023, The Debrief was the first media outlet to report that David Grusch, a former Air Force officer and intelligence specialist with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), had filed an official complaint with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG). 

Grusch alleges that the U.S. government has recovered several vehicles “of exotic origin—attributed to non-human intelligence, whether extraterrestrial or otherwise unknown—based on their unique vehicle morphologies, material science analyses, and distinctive atomic arrangements and radiological signatures.” 

In July 2023, Grusch reiterated his claims under oath before the Congressional Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. In response, the Pentagon has denied that the Department of Defense (DoD) has recovered any “exotic technologies” or operates secret alien reverse engineering programs.

Because Grusch’s assertions of recovered alien craft are closely tied to classified information and national security programs, it remains virtually impossible for journalists, scientists, or the general public to verify or refute his statements.

While much of the fascination with aliens is harmless or confined to bickering on social media, Dr. Milligan argues that its expansion into mainstream belief systems can also have troubling consequences. 

The persistence of these beliefs—and the increasing pressure on governments and scientific institutions to address them—has stretched beyond simple curiosity into a problem that touches various societal sectors.

Dr. Milligan suggests that the traditional approach to handling alien visitation claims—periodic public debunking—is no longer sufficient. He further argues that dismissing alien visitation narratives without engaging in deeper discourse may even be counterproductive. 

“If we hold that the practice of science in a democratic society requires the answerability of the science community to sustained public concerns, then something more robust may be due,” Dr. Milligan asserts. “This will be the case even if the end story that is told (‘no aliens, no cover-up, no conspiracy’) is likely to be the same.” 

The exponential rise in social media platforms has amplified the potential for unsubstantiated claims, making it harder for scientific facts to break through the “background noise” that detracts from serious scientific discourse.  The focus often shifts to debunking sensational claims rather than fostering meaningful scientific dialogue.

Dr. Milligan acknowledged that social media or news outlets, like The Debrief, have played a particular role in shaping the conversation surrounding alien visitation beliefs. However, he says that science, as a whole, could do a better job addressing unscientific populism. 

“There are responsibilities that all of us have. I don’t think that we could police social media even if we wanted to. It’s too big, too varied and too entrenched,” Dr. Milligan explained to The Debrief in an email. “But people from the sciences could do much more outreach and aim for a stronger ongoing presence so that people can start to see the difference between real science and plausible imitations.”

“I also think that analytic skills (especially argument building and recognition of the difference between good and bad arguments) could be taken more seriously across academia,” he added. “In recent years, it has been watered down. Pseudoscience thrives upon bad argumentation, weak analogies, fallacies, and grudge argumentation. But without a solid analytic background, it is hard for younger academics to recognize the box of tricks that get used, and so rather than being easily recognized as bad reasoning, pseudoscience can sound a lot like fearless thinking.” 

In fields like biology and astronomy, where public understanding is already limited, the intrusion of alien visitation narratives can further complicate the communication of scientific findings.

“Particular difficulties get in the way of astrobiology outreach,” Dr. Milligan notes. “We are making progress towards understanding the origins, emergence, distribution, and survival of rudimentary life forms. However, discussions about ‘life’ and ‘space’ can easily be confused with storytelling about aliens crashing into hillsides.”

For Dr. Milligan, this is particularly concerning in the context of cultural astronomy—where astronomy intersects with indigenous cultures. He points out that Indigenous storytelling, which is deeply respected by many astronomers, is increasingly being muddled with alien visitation narratives. This fusion of indigenous origin stories with modern UFO claims can distort traditional narratives, making it difficult to separate fact from fiction.

“Astronomy faces a specialized problem because it requires ground infrastructure in indigenous areas where local people may have been worked over pretty badly by the ‘ancient aliens’ people and convinced that ‘the scientific establishment’ is concealing the truth about ancient indigenous technologies,” Dr. Milligan said. “Responsible siting of astronomy infrastructure draws upon a sense of the importance of cultural astronomy, but that becomes really tough when authentic cultural astronomy gets intermingled with new age tales and suspicions.”

Despite his criticisms, Dr. Milligan does not call for an immediate dismissal of the legitimate study and investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena or possible near-Earth evidence of alien life. 

Instead, he advocates for a more measured yet engaged response. He suggests that while current responses may not be sufficient for much longer, it is not yet time for a full-scale paradigm shift in how science tackles the issue.

In his paper, Dr. Milligan points to scientists like Harvard’s Dr. Avi Loeb, and his establishment of the Galileo Project, or Dr. Martin Elvis, who have advocated for scientific research programs exploring alien visitation claims in a more structured manner.

In his paper, Dr. Milligan notes about the Galileo Project and Dr. Loeb, “Rather than targeting the wilder horizons of dubious testimony about abduction, they have focused upon equivocal material evidence in forms such as possible derelict craft and possible physical residues.” 

Critics have suggested that Dr. Loeb’s scientific approach to hunting for alien visitors is “shaped too much by wanting to believe” and “too entangled in the kinds of populist narratives.”

However, Dr. Milligan points out that based on current attitudes towards topics like UAP or alien visitation, “it may simply be difficult to build any robust SRP program dedicated to [the] evaluation of artifact claims without involving a disproportionate number of people who also want to believe, and who have a certain attitude towards the conservatism of more mainstream lines of scientific research.”

While Dr. Milligan does not necessarily endorse scientific research programs focused solely on hunting for near-Earth alien life, he acknowledged that such programs could have merit, provided they maintain scientific rigor.

Keep reading