One way forward would be to abandon the traditional approach of using single-dish telescopes for SETI.
The Parkes Observatory radio dish, the second largest telescope in the southern hemisphere, has a ‘multibeam’ receiver which can search 13 places in the sky simultaneously for signs of intelligent life.
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Kepler-452b’s discovery last week has raised the perennial question: are we alone in the universe? While the find’s scientific import is huge, it also poses questions that go to the heart of religion.
What kind of creatures might we find populating the cosmos?
Sebastian Münster