Blurs

The Search for Extraterrestrial Life: SETI, the Drake Equation, the Fermi Paradox, and Humanity's Quest to Find Other Civilisations For thousands of years, humans have looked into the night sky and wondered whether we are alone. Ancient philosophers debated whether other worlds existed. Astronomers later discovered that Earth was not the centre of the universe, that stars were other suns, and that planets existed beyond our solar system. Today, the search for extraterrestrial life has moved from philosophy into science. Researchers use radio telescopes, space probes, astronomical surveys, and planetary science to answer one of humanity's oldest questions: Is Earth the only place where life has emerged? The modern search is not primarily about unidentified objects in Earth's skies. It is about finding evidence of life elsewhere in the universe—whether simple organisms beneath alien oceans, microbial fossils on distant worlds, or technological civilisations capable of communi...