Alien Outreach

"I am more convinced than ever that we are not alone."

Does it make sense for us to try to establish contact with alien life? A new HuffPost/YouGov poll shows that many Americans have their doubts.

There isn't much of a plan for what we'd do if we heard from aliens, according to the man probably most likely to make contact with them. Andrew Siemion, scientific director of the Breakthrough Listen project, has said that he spends just a few minutes each day thinking about how he would announce if the project actually found alien life. Breakthrough Listen is a huge plan funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, which is picking through potential signals sent to Earth to find one that could be a message from aliens.

Humankind has long looked at the stars and wondered if there is intelligent life out there. And if so, could we contact them? There are a few options, but which has the greater chance of success? Sending radio messages or unmanned probes? Let's have a look.

China has become an alien-scouting superpower.

A new initiative will allow astronomers to search a million stars for intelligent life.

After decades of fruitless scanning the skies for alien messages, scientists say it’s time to try a basic rule of etiquette: Say “hello” first.

A new group known as METI (Messaging Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) will attempt to make alien contact in 2018.

What do extraterrestrials listen to? Well, we don’t know for sure, but when NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2 into the Solar System in 1977, the space agency equipped the probes with the ‘Golden Record’, intended for any aliens (or future humans) who might one day discover it.

Does a federal law prohibit U.S. citizens from having contact with extraterrestrial beings?

If (or, as some would say,_ when_) humans make contact with alien intelligence, the scientists who devote their careers to the search will be our first point of contact. Here, we look at the history of one of humankind's most persistent fascinations.

The 500 meter wide FAST dish has made a poor rural province the center of China's search for extraterrestrial life. But how likely is it the telescope will indeed start intercepting alien messages?

A new initiative to beam messages into space may be our best shot yet at learning whether we’re alone in the universe. There’s just one problem: What if we’re not?

The entire galaxy is teeming with worlds, and we’re getting better at listening — so the question, “Is there anybody out there?” is one we may be able to answer soon.

What would happen if humans really did make contact with an intelligent alien civilization? If E.T. calls, is there a plan?

Author Sarah Scoles spills about her new biography on SETI researcher Jill Tarter.

Humanity is diligently searching the skies for signs of alien life through efforts like SETI and the Breakthrough Listen initiative, but when will we finally find what we are looking for? Here is a timeline for when you can expect a confirmation that we are not alone in the universe.

The cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact is the corpus of changes to terrestrial science, technology, religion, politics, and ecosystems resulting from contact with an extraterrestrial civilization.