We’ve Been Hunting For Aliens All Wrong, Scientists Say. We Must Pin Down Their ‘Technosignatures’

In the summer of 1950, while Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was discussing the possibility of alien life with fellow physicists over lunch, he ultimately posed a question that we now associate with his eponymous Fermi paradox: "Where is everybody?"

To answer the tantalizing question, scientists in search of extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have been scouring exoplanets for "biosignatures," specific chemicals or combinations of chemicals alluding to the possibility of past or present life. Historically, biosignatures tend to produce false positives, though. For instance, a study that ran in the Journal of the Geological Society in 2022 debunked a lot of the hoopla around Mars' "lifelike" microbes, as it identified a wide array of chemical processes taking place on the Red Planet's rocks; these may have produced structures resembling bacterial cells and carbon-based molecules, giving the illusion of "life."

Maybe we've been looking for aliens all wrong. And that's precisely why researchers have been warming up to another type of signature in their hunt for extraterrestrial life: the so-called "technosignatures."

View in Browser  SHOP EXCLUSIVE SUBSCRIBE We've Been Hunting For Aliens All Wrong, Scientists Say. We Must Pin Down Their 'Technosignatures' We've Been Hunting For Aliens All Wrong, Scientists Say. We Must Pin Down Their 'Technosignatures' In the summer of 1950, while Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was discussing the possibility of alien life with fellow physicists over lunch, he ultimately posed a question that we now associate with his eponymous Fermi paradox: "Where is everybody?" To answer the tantalizing question, scientists in search of extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have been scouring exoplanets for "biosignatures," specific chemicals or combinations of chemicals alluding to the possibility of past or present life. Historically, biosignatures tend to produce false positives, though. For instance, a study that ran in the Journal of the Geological Society in 2022 debunked a lot of the hoopla around Mars' "lifelike" microbes, as it identified a wide array of chemical processes taking place on the Red Planet's rocks; these may have produced structures resembling bacterial cells and carbon-based molecules, giving the illusion of "life." Maybe we've been looking for aliens all wrong. And that's precisely why researchers have been warming up to another type of signature in their hunt for extraterrestrial life: the so-called "technosignatures." In the summer of 1950, while Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi was discussing the possibility of alien life with fellow physicists over lunch, he ultimately posed a question that we now associate with his eponymous Fermi paradox: "Where is everybody?" To answer the tantalizing question, scientists in search of extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) have been scouring exoplanets for "biosignatures," specific chemicals or combinations of chemicals alluding to the possibility of past or present life. Historically, biosignatures tend to produce false positives, though. For instance, a study that ran in the Journal of the Geological Society in 2022 debunked a lot of the hoopla around Mars' "lifelike" microbes, as it identified a wide array of chemical processes taking place on the Red Planet's rocks; these may have produced structures resembling bacterial cells and carbon-based molecules, giving the illusion of "life." Maybe we've been looking for aliens all wrong. And that's precisely why researchers have been warming up to another type of signature in their hunt for extraterrestrial life: the so-called "technosignatures." Read More Read More Game-Changer: The First Synthetic Human Embryos Now Exist But they immediately raise serious ethical questions. Read More These Hammock Tents Will Elevate Your Camping Experience Elevate your outdoor slumbers with a lightweight, packable, and protective shelter. Read More The 8 Best Sandboxes Your Kids Will Dig Bring the playground to your backyard. Read More Civil Engineers Say One Simple Fix Could Have Prevented the I-95 Bridge Collapse A steel bridge exposed to fire can fail in 20 minutes. These leading experts are fighting for better bridge safety in the U.S. Read More Top-Rated Zero Gravity Chairs for Blissing Out All Day Because trying to relax at the beach with back pain is a drag. Read More Follow Us Unsubscribe | Privacy Notice/Notice at Collection PopularMechanics.com ©2023 Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hearst Magazines, 300 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019