Scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute are working on a new theory for when aliens might try to contact Earth, according to a December report.
The team at SETI is looking for communications known as “technosignatures” from extraterrestrials, according to the study. Researchers hypothesized that these signals likely take a lot of energy to send, and therefore “might be concentrated in frequency, in time, or in space.”
Working from this hypothesis, the researchers suggested that aliens might be waiting until their version of “high noon” to send us signals, according to Live Science. The team, therefore, hunted for signs of life during the moments when exoplanets pass in front of their suns, but from Earth’s perspective.
“Exoplanetary transits are special because they can be calculated by both us on Earth, as the observers, and also any potential technological species in the exoplanetary system itself, as the transmitters,” study leader at SETI Sofia Sheikh told Live Science. “This strategy helps us narrow down the huge question of where and when to look for a message in the vast reaches of space.”
Thus far, the team has yet to uncover conclusive evidence of alien signals and life.
No need to worry, the increased UFO sightings were just due to government incompetence https://t.co/b0ewrE0utr
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 15, 2023
The late Stephen Hawking would likely be thrilled at SETI’s failure to contact alien life, as he explicitly warned against letting intelligent life outside of our home planet know we exist. “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced,” Hawking said when he was alive. (RELATED: First Images Of Deep Space Taken By The James Webb Telescope Released By White House)
He noted that intelligent life “may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.” These warnings didn’t stop researchers at the SETI Institute from beaming even more information about our species and planet out into the universe in 2022.