If an alien landed on Earth, how would you decide if it had free will like us, or was a sophisticated automaton?
An intricate crop circle spans a diameter of more than 45 metres in a barley field close to Barbury Castle near Wroughton, England, about 130 kilometres west of London, in 2008. The circle is noteworthy for its complexity, representing the first 10 digits of the mathematical constant pi, or 3.141592654.
Lucy Pringle
Crop circles are global phenomena gaining attention as paranormal culture becomes mainstream, along with a hybrid approach that emulates scientific investigation.
Aliens are highly likely to undergo natural selection, shows new research.
Here, an alien crew member, Saru on Star Trek: Discovery. We often rely on science fiction to guide our expectations of alien life. We can hope lessons about accepting beings very different from yourself can be extracted by the series end.
(Courtesy of CBS Studios)
Star Trek: Discovery explores our corner of the block – just a fraction of the galaxy. Some stars are better candidates for intelligent alien life, and it may not be anything like we imagine.
What message would you send to outer space?
NASA/JPL-Caltech
It may make sense for intelligent aliens to have two eyes and ears on one head, and to walk upright. But other particulars – including their colour – are more open to speculation.
Some argue that it would be impossible to understand an alien language, as it wouldn’t have the same grammar as humans use. But others are more optimistic.
According to a recent poll, 45 percent of Americans believe extraterrestrials have visited the Earth.
Raphael Terra, 'UFO Sunset.'
Whether it’s Hillary Clinton’s courting the UFO vote or Donald Trump’s lending credibility to various conspiracy theories, the “triumph of reason” seems to have gone by the wayside.
We’re on the hunt for life – what do we do when we find it?
NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
There are technological ways to hide a planet from intergalactic detection – as well as ways to signal that we’re just sitting here, eager for contact.